Parachutist rescued after getting tangled in television tower wires 155ft from the ground
27-year-old man was attempting a base jumper from a nearby tower
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Your support makes all the difference.A parachutist who dangled for two hours 155 feet up in the air after becoming entangled in the wires of a broadcast tower has been rescued by fire fighters in Missouri.
Base jumper Timothy Church, 27, was spotted hanging from the wires of KETC-TV tower at around 9.30pm on Thursday, hanging 155 feet up in the air and around 20 feet from the tower in South St. Louis County.
Firefighters climbed up the tower and passed an anchor to Mr Church, who was then able to detach his parachute and be lowered to safety.
Authorities said Mr Church was attempting to perform a base jump from the broadcast tower belonging to the Nine Network of Public Media.
Mr Church, who had a mobile phone with him at the time of the crash, was able to communicate with rescuers on the ground until 11.45pm when the first fire fighter reached him having ascended the tower with 30 pounds of equipment to cut the parachutist free.
Both were greeted with a round of applause when they reached the ground safely.
Although Mr Church was in some distress from his ordeal, according to Mehlville Fire Protection District Chief Brian Hendricks he was able to walk unaided to an ambulance.
District Chief Hendricks added to KMOV: “For people to do things such as this and put our people in harms way, it is disturbing. It bothers us. When you’re standing on the ground and you’re responsible for the men and women that work every day its nerve wrecking. It is upsetting but at the end of the day it all worked out tonight.”
Church, 27, and a second man, Brandon Travis, 26, were arrested for trespassing on private property, St. Louis County Police spokesman Brian Schellman said. Travis helped Church gain access to the tower, he said.
Additional reporting from AP
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