Jump from 86th floor stopped

Press, 30 September 1983, Page 6

Jump from 86th floor stopped

NZPA New York A man who went to the eighty-sixth floor observation deck of the Empire State Building in New York with the intention of ending his life was saved by two Australian tourists who grabbed him as he dangled over the side. As the two men held Frank Avitable, aged 25, he

repeatedly begged, “Please don’t let me fall,” according to Sergeant James Vigiiotti, of the New York police. Sergeant Vigiiotti said that the man had scaled the railing shortly after 9 p.m. with the intention of committing suicide, but then had changed his mind. The Australians, who held on to Mr Avitable until the police arrived, were identi-

fied as Richard Darling and Graham Eklund, both in their 20s and both from Melbourne. The police said that when they reached the observation deck they had found Mr Avitable clinging to the outside of a metal railing. One of the rescuers had taken off his shirt and wrapped it around Mr Avitable while the other had held the

would-be jumper by his belt. The police handcuffed Mr Avitable’s wrists to the railing, securing him until emergency service officers arrived to cut the railing and haul him to safety. The police said that Mr Avitable was distraught because he could get no-one to pay attention to his family problems. He was taken to a local hospital.