High-flying sit-ups lead to power outage in Chengdu

A man scaled a utility pole to do sit-ups on top of it, stunning onlookers and causing a power outage for thousands of homes in the outskirts of Chengdu, capital of the southwestern Sichuan Province.

The 22-year-old man surnamed Wu scaled the utility pole to vent his anger after an argument on Sunday evening. He was detained on suspicion of endangering public safety, police said today.

Police ordered the local energy provider to temporarily suspend power. Wu climbed down the pole after four hours of police negotiation and persuasion. 

In a video posted on Weibo, Wu is seen suspended about 10 meters in the air as he did stomach crunches.

The incident was a hot topic on Chinese social media, with at least 1.7 million views of one hashtag relating to it.

"I was annoyed because we had no electricity, and when I watched the news and found out why I felt annoyed and amused at the same time," said one Weibo user affected by the incident.

Another Weibo user was not amused.

"Blackouts waste a lot of money and can cause fatal accidents," he said.