Lao man rescued from 10-metre-high billboard

A rescuer saved a disturbed Lao man who had climbed a 10-metre-high billboard in Pathum Thani province early Saturday by jumping down with him into a large air cushion below in a two-hour rescue drama.
The Pratunam Chulaporn Police Station in Pathum Thani’s Thanyaburi district was alerted at 1am that a shirtless man was sitting on a billboard on the frontage road of the Phaholyothin Road in front of Tesco-Lotus shopping mall.
Police rushed to the scene and blocked traffic on the road and called for a crane and a life-saving air cushion from the Rangsit Municipality.
A patrol policeman and a rescuer from Ruam Katanyu Foundation went up the crane to try and talk to the man to climb down using the crane but he refused. He instead stood up and walked around, raising fears that he could fall in the direction where there was no air cushion.
After two hours of talks failed, police decided to send a rescuer up to the billboard. The rescuer pulled the man to the side of the air cushion and jumped off with him, landing safely on the air cushion. The man was later identified as Phan Wichai, 35. He said he felt tense after being scolded by his employer.