A man has climbed the Eiffel Tower – despite the safety precautions. For hours he waited 270 meters before giving up. The Paris landmark has been cleared and closed.
The Paris Eiffel Tower was closed for hours because a climber climbed up the steel structure without a permit and held on for about six hours at a height of about 270 meters. A special unit of the fire department and a police negotiator contacted the man and eventually moved him to the task. He was „under control and out of danger,“ it said.
The motives of the man are currently unclear. The security forces also do not know how the climber managed to bypass the strict safety precautions. According to the operating company, the man had taken the elevator to the second floor and then climbed to the top.
Visitors had to leave tower
After the climber was discovered in the afternoon, the operating company evacuated the landmark of the French capital. About 2,500 people had to leave the tower and the grounds. The area was cordoned off. Restaurant guests who had dined on the second level reported on television that they had been asked to leave because someone was moving around the tower.
The tower administration said the building will open again on Tuesday as usual. The Eiffel Tower is visited by millions every year. It was opened in 1889 on the occasion of the Paris World Expo. Decisive for its construction was the French engineer Gustave Eiffel responsible. Overall, the tower is 324 meters high.
