The reports of an internet star known as ‘China‘s first rooftopper’ fell to his death from the top of a 62-storey skyscraper has stolen eyes online.
Wu Yongning, 26, was doing pull-ups at the top of the Huayuan International Centre in Changsha, the capital of Huan Province, when he lost his grip and fell.
Harrowing footage captured the moment he let go, plunging 45ft on to a terrace below where his body was later found by a window cleaner.
The incident was captured on a camera that Wu had placed on another part of the building to record himself.
Wu Yongning’s girlfriend, who refers to herself as Jin Jin, told the Beijing News that he was due to ask her parents’ permission to marry her two days after the stunt.
Jin Jin told the newspaper that he planned to bring her family a bridal gift of 80,000 yuan (£9,000), roughly the same amount he was due to earn from the video.
Wu died on November 8 but his death was only confirmed by family members on December 8 after fans became concerned that no videos had been posted to his social media account for a month.
Local authorities investigating the case described it as an ‘accident’ and have already ruled out foul play.
On live-streaming video site ‘Volcano’, Wu had one million followers and 300 videos. He held 217 live-streaming sessions and was paid around 55,000 yuan (£6,000) for doing so. Viewers paid him with virtual currency if they liked the videos.
Fans have now flooded social media with tributes to Wu.
Jin Jin, said Huayuan International Centre is only open to the public until the 44th floor, after which key cards are required to access the Grand Hyatt hotel.
As security personnel were also present on the hotel’s top floor, she said she believes her boyfriend took a lift to ‘over 40 floors’ and then free-climbed ‘nearly 20 more floors’ to reach the position where he filmed.
Wu used to work as a lowly paid background actor for various films in China before becoming a video blogger at the beginning of this year.
He discovered that by posting videos of himself climbing up dangerous structures, he could earn much more money than acting and could help his family improve their living standard.
In the space of 10 months, Wu scaled skyscrapers around China and performed stunts on top of them.
On October 3, he filmed himself doing an one-arm handstand on top of the 70-storey Sun Moon Light Plaza in Chongqing.
One month before, a video on his social media account showed him walking on a tiny ledge on top of the 68-storey Yuexiu Fortune Center in Wuhan.
One of his most famous stunts took place in mid July. In it, Wu did pull-ups without harness by grabbing to the edge of a 1,000-metre-high (3,280 feet) walkway in Zhangjiajie.
Source: Mail online
