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Chinese man causes outage after sit-ups atop power pole: reports

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Agence France-Presse

<p>SHANGHAI - A man in China scaled a utility pole to do sit-ups off the top of it, stunning onlookers and causing a power cut to thousands of homes, media said Tuesday.</p><p>The unnamed man was taken away by police following his antics on Sunday evening on the outskirts of the southwestern city of Chengdu, the <a href="https://twitter.com/PDChina/status/1363946664277508100">People&#x27;s Daily said</a>.</p><p>It published a video on the Twitter-like Weibo showing the man suspended about 10 meters (30 feet) in the air as he did a stomach crunch off the top of the pylon.</p><p>&quot;The local power company initiated an emergency power cut... affecting tens of thousands of households,&quot; the People&#x27;s Daily said.</p><p>Emergency services, including medical personnel, rushed to the scene, The Paper in Shanghai said. </p><p>It was not clear why the man decided to do sit-ups off the pole but state media warned against anyone copying him.</p><p>&quot;The man&#x27;s behavior is too dangerous!&quot; said one outlet. </p><p>The incident was a hot topic on Chinese social media, with at least 1.7 million views of one hashtag relating to it.</p><p>&quot;I was annoyed because no electricity... and when I see the news and know the reason, I feel annoyed and amused at the same time,&quot; said one Weibo user affected by the bizarre incident.</p><p>Another on Weibo did not find it so funny.</p><p>&quot;Blackouts can waste a lot of money and potentially lead to a fatal accident,&quot; they said.</p><p>Local police were unavailable for comment.</p><div><strong>FROM THE ARCHIVES:</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HxgbG4lYNuM?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

<p>A man in China scaled a utility pole to do sit-ups off the top of it, stunning onlookers and causing a power cut to thousands of homes, media said Tuesday.</p>

A man in China scaled a utility pole to do sit-ups off the top of it, stunning onlookers and causing a power cut to thousands of homes, media said Tuesday.