Wednesday September 2, 2009
Third time lucky for French Spidey
KUALA LUMPUR: French “Spiderman” Alain Robert was arrested after successfully scaling the Petronas Twin Towers, in his third attempt on the nation’s tallest structure, police said.
The 46-year-old began climbing one of the 88-storey towers before dawn and reached the top before being discovered by security officials, Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Muhammad Sabtu Osman told AFP.
“We have taken him back to the police station for questioning and checking his passport. He can be charged for criminal trespass ... He climbed the building without a permit from the management,” he said.
Robert, clad in a black shirt and trousers, celebrated his ascent by standing with his arms outspread on the pinnacle of one of the towers, as a helicopter circled in the misty early morning.
French ‘spiderman’ Alain Robert raising his hands while standing on the tip of the 88- storey Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur yesterday. It was his third attempt at doing so. A helicopter circled around the tower as Robert got to the top. The celebrations turned awry later when police arrested him. — AFP Eyewitnesses said he took less than two hours to complete the climb, and then fixed a Malaysian flag on top of the building which is home to Petronas as well as many international companies.
“He climbed using his bare hands and reached the top very fast ... as no security personnel noticed him or stopped him,” said Ee Wee Kiat, a cameraman who was filming the scene from the ground.
Robert first tried to scale the building on March 20, 1997, and made a second unsuccessful attempt in 2007, after which he was freed without charge. Each time he reached the 60th storey before being intercepted by authorities.
Robert has been nicknamed “Spiderman” for his high-profile escapades including climbing the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
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