InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
PARIS - A man committed suicide by climbing up the Eiffel Tower and jumping to his death, Paris police said on Monday.
Police spotted the man climbing the structure of the tower around 11:30 pm (2130 GMT) on Sunday. They evacuated the tower, sealed off the area and tried to negotiate with the man, who spoke English, a police source told Agence France-Presse.
The negotiations failed and the man jumped from between the tower's second level and the top, a height of between 125 and 324 meters.
Suicides by jumping from the tower "happen frequently enough, but it is rare for someone to be able to climb so high," a police source said.
Built in two years by engineer Gustave Eiffel as the centerpiece of the 1889 world fair, the Eiffel Tower is a hallmark of the Paris skyline and one of the most visited tourist sites in the world, with 7.1 million visitors in 2011, an average of nearly 20,000 visitors per day.
OTHER WORLD STORIES
As mayor longs for development in Kalayaan, others fear China's 'rape' of the islands
After blaming corrupted CF cards, Brillantes now faults telcos for delayed COC transmissions
Comelec should not get intel funds, says ex-chief Monsod, as Brillantes assails Lagman's motive
FOCUS | China may be fanning flames of Taiwanese anger with PH - expert
