On Thursday (August 17), a man was apprehended after he leaped off the iconic Eiffel Tower in Paris while wearing a parachute, according to statements from both the monument’s operator and the police.
Reportedly, the individual, identified by news agency AFP as an experienced climber, gained access to the area around the monument shortly after 5:00 am (0300 GMT), well before its official opening time.
The operator of the site, Sete, explained that although guards promptly spotted the man, he managed to ascend to the tower’s summit before anyone could intercept him. He carried the parachute in a backpack and took advantage of the opportunity to jump off the 330-meter-high structure once he reached the top.
Authorities reported that the man landed in a nearby stadium and was subsequently arrested for endangering the lives of others.
Sete issued a statement condemning such “irresponsible action” as it places individuals working around or beneath the tower at risk.
Due to this incident, the tower’s opening, usually scheduled for 9:00 am, experienced a slight delay. Sete expressed that it had pressed criminal charges against the individual involved.
Earlier this week, on Monday (August 13), two inebriated tourists from the United States were found sleeping atop the renowned Eiffel Tower in Paris after having managed to evade security the previous night, as revealed by the monument’s operator.
Security personnel woke the men during their usual morning rounds, which precede the tourist site’s opening hours, according to the publicly-owned Eiffel Tower operator, Sete, as cited by AFP.
The Paris prosecutor noted that the men “seem to have become stuck due to their high level of intoxication.”
The intoxicated American visitors had spent the prohibited night in an area normally inaccessible to the public, located between the tower’s second and third levels. Sete clarified that they did not appear to pose any imminent threat.
Sources indicate that the tourists had bypassed security barriers while descending the tower’s stairs from the top, having purchased entry tickets around 10:40 pm on Sunday.
Firefighters, including a specialized unit for rescuing individuals from hazardous heights, were dispatched to retrieve the intruders.
Both men were taken to a police station in Paris’ seventh district for questioning, while Sete confirmed its intention to file a criminal complaint against the trespassers.
The incident caused a delay of approximately an hour in opening the renowned site to the public on Monday morning.
In a separate occurrence, the Eiffel Tower had been evacuated twice on the same day the previous week following false bomb threats.
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