MALAYSIA: French Spiderman is arrested before reaching the top of Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur

Malaysian authorities arrests the "French Spiderman", a daredevil climber, who scales skyscrapers around the world as he tried to scurry up the Petronas Twin Towers. The "French Spiderman", Alain Robert, failed in his attempt, again, to scale Malaysia's 88 story Petronas Twin Towers. Robert, 44, wearing a yellow shirt specially made to commemorate his Malaysian bid, slipped past security guards on the ground only to be arrested thirty minutes later, a few floors up. It resembled a scene from an action movie with Robert hanging on a ledges with his bare hands as a police and hundreds of onlookers, holding camera phones, looked on. He managed to reach the 60th floor. Robert told Reuters Television by phone as he climbed the glass-panelled structure that it was great view from where he stood and he loved the way people inside the offices where staring at him. Eventually, a team of firemen and policemen stopped him and ordered him to re-enter the building through an opening on the 60th floor. He did not resist. This was Robert's second failed attempt to scale the PetronasTowers. Exactly 10 years ago, he was arrested on the 60th floor of the other tower, a mission he accomplished in 30 minutes. The Towers is among 65 buildings Robert had climbed. Others include the Eiffel Tower, London's Canary Wharf building, New York's Empire State Building and Chicago's Sear's Tower. In an interview done on Monday ( March 19), Robert said that he is a cooler person now, but his interest in building climbing has not been diminished. "Well I find it interesting in terms of, it's a kind of urban mountain and the good thing is that there is always a new urban Everest which this one used to be, until three years ago and then I climbed 101(Taipei 101,Taiwan) now is the new Everest," he said. One of the onlookers, Miss Soraya was attracted by the crowd, said "I was thinking they were having some kind of exercise." Robert was handcuffed and escorted back to earth before he was taken away in a police car. It was not immediately known if he would be charged with anything. The Petronas Towers remains a challenge for Robert who has repeatedly been denied permission to scale the building.

ITN Source | March 21, 2007

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