Defective silo demolition in Denmark results in it falling on opposite direction

The 170-foot tower collapsed in the wrong direction, damaging the nearby cultural center

On Friday April 6th, the scheduled detonation of a silo in the town of Vordingborg in eastern Denmark took place, only it went empathically wrong. The 50m-tall (170-foot) tower, instead of falling into the safely cleared zoned, fell in the opposite direction, destroying a small section of the local cultural center. The nearby building houses the administrative offices of the Vordingbord Libraries, an archive and a music school. Luckily, no injuries were reported.

At Vordingborg harbor, where the tower had been standing for 36 years, the area will be used for the construction of new homes, businesses and a hotel. The blast had been prepared for 6 months and an investigation is now underway to explain the failure. “I simply do not know how it may have gone so bad. I will put my head on the block”, said blasting manager Kenneth Wegge to the Danish news network TV East. Vice chairman of the Danish Explosives Association, Johan Finsteen Gjodvad, said: “When you look at what has been done in preparation, it should fall the other way. It's really unfortunate that it went wrong that way.”