Man climbs to end it all

Marco Nur, 23, struggled to free himself from the grips of firemen and a volunteer. "No, leave me up here, I want to die," he said, eight hours after climbing to the top of a 20-meter high street lamp on Jl. Sudirman, Central Jakarta.

The man, dressed in jeans, was eventually brought to the ground at 6:15 p.m. and taken to the Tanah Abang Police substation.

"He is depressed," said a police officer on duty at the station.

The man, a resident of Cilandak in South Jakarta, climbed the street lamp unnoticed at 9:45 a.m. He stripped off his T-shirt and threw it to the ground, drawing the attention of passersby. Heavy traffic congestion soon ensued.

He later emptied his pockets and threw the contents to the ground: his identity card and Rp 400,000 (US$47) in Rp 100,000 and Rp 50,000 banknotes.

When firemen tried to rescue him, Marco threatened to jump off by standing on the one of the pole's two horizontal bars. Things turned intense after Sukarji, 19, climbed the pole to help. He was eventually brought to the ground on a fire snorkel. --JP