IRKUTSK, July 23 (RIA Novosti) – Rescuers in the East Siberian city of Irkutsk prevented a local man from jumping to his death with the help of a bottle of vodka, the city’s rescue service said on Tuesday.
The 28-year-old man, who appeared to be heavily drunk, was threatening to jump from the roof of a five-story residential building, the rescue service said, without specifying when the incident took place.
Rescuers who arrived at the scene found it difficult to persuade the man to abandon his suicide attempt. “It was hard to negotiate with him, but soon he demanded another bottle of vodka be brought to him or he would jump,” the rescue service said.
One of his neighbors finally bought vodka for the man, while rescuers prepared a special landing pad to break his fall if he jumped.
“Alcohol lulled the young man’s vigilance. Sitting on a drain pipe, he took a gulp from the bottle of vodka, after which he grew thoughtful,” the rescue service said. That gave rescuers "enough time to run up to him across the roof and fling a loop over him. Simultaneously, the man was seized by his legs from a balcony below the roof, which prevented him from jumping or falling down," the rescue service said.
The man's motives for threatening to kill himself are not known, the rescue service said.
