France detains two for parachuting off Eiffel Tower

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Two men wearing balaclavas scaled the 330m-tall Eiffel Tower before dawn, before jumping off with parachutes.

Two men wearing balaclavas scaled the 330m-tall Eiffel Tower before dawn and jumped off with parachutes.

PHOTO: REUTERS

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  • Two men were arrested for parachuting off the Eiffel Tower after scaling it before dawn on July 10, confirmed by a police source.
  • Security alerted police when they saw the men, wearing balaclavas and carrying parachutes, climbing the 330m tower in Paris.
  • After jumping at 6am local time, the pair were arrested upon landing, and a third person nearby was also detained. (AFP)

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PARIS French law enforcement arrested two men for parachuting off the Eiffel Tower on July 10, a police source said.

Security staff spotted the pair scaling the 330m-tall Paris monument before dawn, wearing balaclavas and carrying parachutes, the source said.

They called to the scene police and civil defence officers, who tried to make contact with the climbers.

The climbers signalled that they wanted to jump.

They leapt off the tower at around 6am local time (noon in Singapore), and police arrested them once they had landed.

Police also detained a third person who had been near the monument but had not taken part in the climb, the source said.

Completed in 1889 for Paris’ Universal Exposition, the Eiffel Tower is owned by the city of Paris.

One of the world’s most-visited monuments, it attracts about seven million people every year – around three-quarters of them from abroad, according to its website. AFP

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