BASE Jumping is a global activity and problem. It presents a significant liability to communications tower owners and to tall commercial properties worldwide. Not too many hours before the Georgia tower incident (above) took place, security officers at the South Korean landmark Lotte World Tower in Seoul were left red-faced after two “skywalkers” evaded their cordon and scaled the 1,820-foot building, according a Thursday report in the London Telegraph. Security had been stepped up at the site of the building – which will be the fifth-tallest skyscraper in the world when it is finished – after Vitaliy Raskalov, a Ukrainian, and Vadim Makhorov, from Russia, announced their presence in Seoul by posting photos of themselves in the city on social media sites.
About 400 security officers were deployed around the clock, Lotte officials told l media, while mugshots of Raskalov and Makharov were posted at entrances to the construction site. The precautions were in vain, however, after Raskalov posted images on Tuesday of his feet on a yellow crane at the top of the partly completed, 123-story structure.
In a taunting message accompanying the images, Raskalov said he had already gone before the security officials knew he had conquered the tower.
“Get ready for the new video”, he said, indicating that footage of the two men’s ascent will be released soon, the Telegraph reported. Raskalov has previously provided video of other conquests, including the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.
Security staff were “flummoxed” as to how the two men had evaded their precautions, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported. Staff have examined closed-circuit television footage but have found no indications of how the two men gained access to the site.
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