A Chinese daredevil, famous for his heart-stopping rooftop climbs, died after falling from a 62-storey building during one of his high-rise stunts while filming a selfie video.
Climber Wu Yongning, 26, was performing a $15,000 “rooftopping” dare when he met with the accident, which has spurred warnings by state media against the perils of livestreaming.
Wu died in the central China tragedy on November 8, the day he stopped posting videos of his skyscraper exploits on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter. A video of the incident has gone viral.
He gathered a huge fan following -- he had 60,000 followers -- on the social media platform with his videos of stunts that he performed without safety nets.
Wu’s girlfriend confirmed his death on Weibo on December 8 only a month after his death, according to the China News
The news report said Wu died performing the dangerous stunt on the Huayuan Hua Centre in Changsha of Hunan province. In the video, Wu can be seen doing pull-ups at the top of the building and then losing his grip and falling from the great height.
According to South China Morning Post, Wu’s uncle said that the daredevil was going to use the prize money from his last stunt for his wedding, and medical treatment of his mother.
His death was a reminder of the need for stronger supervision of livestreaming apps, the official China Daily said on Tuesday.
“Some of them try to hype things up with obscene and dangerous things, and their purpose is to attract more eyeballs and make a profit,” it said in a commentary.