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Demolition works.2 kg of explosives erased the only remaining proof of existence of the Plo factory.

Smokestack disappears in seconds.

Former PLO factory smokestack demolition

At 10h58 yesterday, the explosives technician sounded the fog horn three times. Two minutes later, the smockestack of the former Plo factory collapsed. Upon detonating 2 kilos of dynamite, it came down right at the expected place. All the workers had to do was to inspect the rubble. Onlookers, neighbors and former employees of the dyeworks witnessed the demise of one of the most emblematic industrial figures in Castres.

It disappeared from the urban landscape in a matter of seconds. Yesterday at 10h59 sharp, the smokestack of former indusrial dyeworks Plo collapsed, annihilated by a 2 kg-explosive charge. Magistrally carried out by the agents and explosives technicians of Nitro Bickford from Montdragon and MTPS from Noailhac, this spectacular operation is part of the redevelopment project for the Durenque banks.

To prevent any incident a wide securiy perimeter was installed and about thirty police officers (national and municipal) were mobilized and posted by the Pont des Soldats, the Jardins du Mail and along the avenue de Gaulle.

Road traffic was interrupted during the operations which attracted several dozen inhabitants. Among them were former factory workers, such as André Alquier, 56, a recent retiree: "This is where I worked for twenty-one years. I came to see the smokestack come down, it does get to you, you can't help it."

Plo opened its doors in 1957. It closed towards the end of 2006, and relocated in Aussillon. "Keeping this smokestack where it was was much too hazardous," Deputy Mayor Jacques Thoroude insisted. "It might have represented a real danger when the Autan blows. Bringing it down was a necessary precaution; it fits into a development project aimed at improving living conditions for many neighborhood residents, and making it possible for companies to contemplate future investements in the regional sphere."

 

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