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Firefighters pay man 2,000 not to kill himself
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-22 08:59

A Shanghai man changed his mind - or so he claimed - after firefighters met his demands and paid him 2,000 yuan ($293) not to jump off a building.

The Sunday evening fiasco began when the man climbed up the scaffolding to the top of the 70-m-high building. He drank alcohol and complained he was penniless and had no one to love.

Firefighters could not force him to enter as he was still on the scaffolding outside the main body of the building. They persuaded him but he only budged after they gave him 2,000 yuan as he asked.

After he got the money, he began climbing down the scaffolding. Halfway down, he passed through the protective fence and entered the building through a window, and disappeared.

(Qilu Evening News)