An English-speaking tourist has died after jumping off the Eiffel Tower. The man climbed up the outside of the structure at around 11:30pm yesterday before leaping to his death. Police had spotted him scaling the 1,063ft tower, prompting them to evacuate and seal off the area.
Firefighters tried to talk the man down but failed. It is thought he jumped from around 1,000ft, said Frederic Grosjean, deputy spokesman for the Paris firefighters' brigade. A police source said: 'These tragedies are all too common, but it’s rare for someone to climb to the very top before jumping off.
'The man was spotted after he started climbing, and negotiations took place, but he had apparently made up his mind to end his life. When he got to between the second level and the top, he jumped.' The entire tower, which includes a restaurant, was evacuated during the drama. 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 to AFP on the number of suicides at the site every year, saying: 'It is always too many.' French engineer Gustave Eiffel built his world-famous tower for the Paris world fair of 1889. It is now visited by more than seven million people a year, many of whom come from Britain. Numerous measures are in place to try and stop people using the tower to end their lives, including security fences and safety nets.
