/ 8 August 2006

Homeless man stuck on ledge for three days

A man had to be rescued after he was stuck for three days on a ledge in an unused building in Auckland Park on Monday, emergency services said.

The homeless man from Limpopo had been trying to hide from robbers and climbed up a series of stairs to reservoir tanks previously used to produce gas at Egoli Gas company, spokesperson Malcolm Midgley said.

”It’s like a maze in there. He must have climbed up the stairs, shimmied across beams, found a place where he thought nobody would be able to see him, and then he realised he couldn’t get down.”

A passer-by looking for scrap metal heard the man calling and alerted staff at Egoli Gas who called the fire department.

”We used ropes and ladders to get to him and bring him down safely,” said Midgley.

The man was treated for hypothermia and hypoglycaemia at Helen Joseph hospital. — Sapa