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The man was taken away by police following his antics on Sunday evening in Chengdu, southwestern China. Photo: Weibo

Chinese police apprehend man whose sit-ups atop power pole caused outage

  • Power company cuts electricity after man is seen doing stomach crunches on top of pole in Chengdu
  • Newspaper publishes video on Weibo as the incident causes stir on social media
A man in China scaled a pylon to do sit-ups off the top of it, stunning onlookers and causing a power cut to thousands of homes, media said on Tuesday.
The unnamed man was taken away by police following his antics on Sunday evening on the outskirts of the southwestern city of Chengdu, People’s Daily said.
It published a video on the Twitter-like Weibo showing the man suspended about 10 metres (about 30 feet) in the air as he did a stomach crunch off the top of the pylon.

“The local power company initiated an emergency power cut … affecting tens of thousands of households,” People’s Daily said.

00:47

Chinese man causes outage after doing sit-ups atop power pole

Chinese man causes outage after doing sit-ups atop power pole

Emergency services including medical personnel rushed to the scene, according to Thepaper.cn.

It was not clear why the man decided to do sit-ups off the pole but state media warned against anyone copying him. “The man’s behaviour is too dangerous!” said one outlet.

The incident was a hot topic on Chinese social media, with at least 1.7 million views of one hashtag relating to it.

“I was annoyed because no electricity … and when I see the news and know the reason, I feel annoyed and amused at the same time,” according to one Weibo user affected by the bizarre incident.

02:46

Skateboarding French bulldog becomes Chinese social media star

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Another on Weibo did not find it so funny. “Blackouts can waste a lot of money and potentially lead to a fatal accident,” they said.

Local police were unavailable for comment.

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