BEIJING: A brave 89-year-old grandmother climbed from the 27th to the 21st floor on her building’s outer wall after accidentally locking herself in, shocking many people online.
The woman in Beijing was spotted stuck outside a residential building’s 26th floor on an afternoon on April 1.
A cleaner and a security guard heard her faint sounds from downstairs, looked up and saw her grabbing tightly to the rails that protect air conditioners on the outer wall.
They immediately called the police and shouted to her to stay put and wait to be rescued.
She continued climbing down when the firefighters were on their way.
The exhausted woman eventually stopped at the 21st floor, which was about 50m above the ground.
The firefighters had to rescue her from inside the building as it was not safe for them to also get onto the rails.
They first attached a safety rope to her then they cut part of the rails, so that she could sit on the platform of an air conditioner and rest.
They also gave her a jacket and water.
They discovered that the 89-year-old lives alone on the 27th floor. She accidentally locked herself in the bedroom and left her mobile phone in the living room.
The anxious woman then made the extremely dangerous decision to climb down along the air conditioner units’ rails.
She said she had planned to climb all the way down to the first floor.
After she rested for 20 minutes, the firefighters made a bridge between the platform and the window of a 21st-floor flat with a stretcher and leaned out to carefully move the woman inside.
She was uninjured except for feeling exhausted and frightened.
Both the woman and her family, who rushed to the scene, thanked the firefighters.
The woman’s adventure went viral online, receiving over 4 million views on a social media platform.
Many paid respect to her outstanding physical strength and willpower, nicknaming her “super grandma” and “Alex Honnold’s grandma version”.
Honnold is a famous free solo climber who recently scaled the 508m Taipei 101 skyscraper without ropes or safety gear.
“Those born in Year 89 dare not climb down the 27th floor, but an 89-year-old woman dared to do so,” said one online observer.
“She might have climbed all the way down by herself if nobody discovered her,” said another.
Another person praised the quality of the rails.
“She would have fallen if the building’s developer used substandard materials,” said another who works in the construction industry. - South China Morning Post
