The most spectacular show ever seen on the Las Vegas Strip took only 42 seconds to transform 23 floors of history into a 30-foot heap of rubble.
The "pirates" who opened the Strip's newest mega-resort with a bang 24 hours earlier turned their cannons on the Dunes Hotel on Wednesday night.A simulated cannonball shot from a $12 million pirate ship moored in the bay of the Treasure Island resort sparked a spectacular detonation that reduced the landmark Dunes to rubble.
The hotel's 180-foot sign tilted crazily as explosions shook the high-rise. A wall of flame shot 19 stories up from the fourth floor to roll over the top of the building.
The Dunes, built in 1965, was leveled by Mirage Resorts Inc., which bought the bankrupt property earlier this year. It plans to build a new resort on the site.