- Unusual Discovery: Intoxicated Americans Found Sleeping on Eiffel Tower
- Trespassing Incident: Nighttime Adventure Between Second and Third Levels
- Security Measures and Investigation: Delayed Opening and Bomb Threats
Two American visitors were discovered sleeping at the heights of the Eiffel Tower on Monday after evading security the night before, according to the monument’s operator.
The publicly-owned Eiffel Tower operator Sete stated that security officers awoke the men “early in the morning” as they were making their rounds before the monument’s 9 a.m. opening.
They “appear to have gotten stuck due to their intoxication,” Paris prosecutors told AFP.
The intoxicated Americans had spent the night between the tower’s second and third levels. Which is typically off-limits to the public, but “posed no apparent threat,” according to Sete.
After purchasing an admission ticket at 10:40 p.m. on Sunday, the couple jumped security barriers while descending the tower’s stairs, according to a police source.
The police source said firefighters, including a height-rescue crew, were sent to retrieve the trespassers.
Sete indicated it would file a criminal complaint after questioning them at the seventh-arrondissement Paris police station.
The discovery of the nocturnal intruders delayed the Monday morning inauguration of the tower by approximately one hour.
The landmark was evacuated on Saturday after two bomb threats, and authorities are currently investigating.
On Monday, an additional email containing a bomb threat against the 330-meter (1080-foot) steel structure was sent to three Paris police stations. But police advised against its evacuation.
