- The Washington Times - Friday, May 3, 2013

A man who climbed at 200-foot power company tower was electrocuted and fell, apparently landing part of the way down. Seattle firefighters spent Friday morning trying to extricate the man’s body from the tower, whose power had to be shut off during the recovery.

The tower was a conduit for high-voltage electric wires, and responders weren’t clear why the man was climbing it, CBS reported.

Kyle Moore, a spokesman for the fire department, said the man’s body was finally placed in a basket and slowly lowered to the ground, CBS said.

Witnesses say he may have been dead for hours. They reported in CBS to seeing a bright flash about 1 a.m., followed quickly by a person falling down the tower, which is located in the Fremont neighborhood.

Firefighters had to wait more than six hours to retrieve his body.

First, a helicopter pilot reported his body was stuck at the 150-foot mark. Then, the electric company shut power so that responders could safely climb.

• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.

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