An unidentified youth climbed to the very top of a BSNL tower and sat on a narrow rod without safety railings. The BSNL tower climber requested Pumpkin fried with poppy seeds to be delivered from the top of a 270-ft BSNL tower — which set off an eight-hour rescue operation in Siliguri on Wednesday night.
Ending just before midnight when mountaineers finally brought the youth safely to the ground. Rescuers first spotted the youth around 4 p.m. atop the mobile tower at Kanchanjunga Stadium, dressed in a red-and-saffron outfit and showing no inclination to descend.
Crowds gathered below as police, fire services, civil defence, and disaster management teams rushed to the spot. The sheer height made communication from the ground impossible, prompting the Siliguri Police Commissionerate to deploy a drone.
The unusual exchange enabled the youth to request ‘posto diye kumro bhaja’ — pumpkin fried with poppy seeds. At another point, he demanded a helicopter ride.
An official said, “Any attempt to forcibly bring him down, or any sudden movement, could have caused him to fall.”
With ground-level persuasion failing, authorities summoned mountaineer Nehal Sarkar and his team along with civil defence personnel, who climbed the tower to reach him.
When verbal persuasion did not work, the team secured him in a stretcher-like arrangement and carefully lowered him down. He reached the ground around 11:30 p.m. — nearly eight hours after they first spotted him.
Authorities took the youth to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital for observation. ACP (East) Rana Mukherjee said police are working to establish his identity and determine how he entered the stadium and gained access to the ageing tower without being intercepted — a lapse that has raised questions about security at both the premises and the telecommunications structure.
A similar incident occurred a week earlier when a man climbed a 125-foot BSNL mobile tower in Bemetara, Chhattisgarh, after his wife refused to give him money for alcohol. This refusal prompted him to ascend the telecom tower in anger. A large crowd of villagers, and local police, engaged in negotiations for several hours.
Eventually, he agreed to come down, and rescuers safely brought him down without any injuries or casualties. In India, people sometimes climb mobile towers or water tanks in frustration to protest poor network service, demand government or family action, or draw attention to personal disputes.
Content contributed by AFP staff member, reported from Siliguri, West Bengal, India, sourced by timesofindia.indiatimes.com
