HIGH places are daunting enough without a swarm of stingers joining the scene.
It was claimed recently that the Fire and Rescue Department had to roll out to rescue a worker from a telecommunications tower in Batu Kawan, Penang due to a wasp nest.
VERDICT:
TRUE
Yes, it is true that a maintenance worker was rescued after being stranded 40 metres up on a telecommunications tower at the Batu Kawan Industrial Park due to a wasp threat.
Penang Fire and Rescue Department assistant operations director John Sagun Francis said the department received an emergency call at 12.10pm on Monday (Sept 29) before a team was dispatched to the site.
"Upon arrival, it was found that the incident involved a Pakistani national who was stranded on platform four of the 40m-high communication tower while carrying out maintenance work there," he said in a statement.
"The 29-year-old man was unable to descend due to a wasp nest measuring 25cm in diameter and wasps roaming on platform one at a height of 10m, and the operations commander ordered firemen to don full PPE to carry out the rescue," he said.
He said the fire brigade hoisted and provided the victim with a JBPM insect-proof jacket via a safety rope before he descended safely.
According to Sagun, the location was then handed over to the communication tower management to contact pest control for the removal of the wasp nest.
