06.07.2005

15 year old girl sleepwalks on tower crane

A 15 year old sleepwalker was rescued with a truck mounted platform after being found asleep 40 metres up, on the counterweight of a top slewing tower crane.

Police and firefighters were called to a building site in Dulwich, south east London, after a passer-by spotted the girl around 1:30 in the morning. The unnamed girl had left her home near the construction site, climbed the cranes tower and walked across the narrow superstructure beam to the counterweight, while remaining fast asleep.
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The 40 metre tower crane in Dulwich

The person who spotted her feared she was about to throw herself off but when a firefighter climbed the crane he found her curled up asleep on top of the concrete counterweight, 40 metres in the air.

Afraid to wake her in case she panicked and fell off the counterweight, the fireman is understood to have found a mobile phone on her and was able to call her parents from the top of the crane. They then called back, in order to wake her up.

She was eventually brought down by truck mounted platform and taken to hospital for checks but was found to have suffered no ill effects.