Skip to main content
France - Britain

Briton jumps to death from Eiffel Tower in Paris

A British man committed suicide by climbing up the Eiffel Tower in Paris and jumping to his death, officials said on Monday.

Getty Images
Advertising

Police spotted the man climbing the structure of the tower around 11:30 pm Paris time on Sunday. They evacuated the tower, sealed off the area and tried to negotiate with the man.

Firefighters tried to talk him down from the tower but failed and he jumped from between its second and third levels, a height of between 125 and 310 metres said Frederic
Grosjean, deputy spokesman for the Paris firefighters' brigade.

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.

Firefighters intervened again on Monday when a woman aged about 30 also attempted to jump from the tower. She was talked out of the suicide and lifted by helicopter from the structure.

Eiffel Tower management refused to comment on the number of suicides at the site every year, saying only: "It is always too many."

Built in two years by engineer Gustave Eiffel as the centrepiece 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.

 

Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning

Keep up to date with international news by downloading the RFI app

Share :
Page not found

The content you requested does not exist or is not available anymore.