THANE: A man who climbed a 100-foot-high Satis canopy outside Thane railway station and slept on top of it since the previous night triggered panic among early morning commuters, who mistook him for a body and alerted the authorities. Rescue teams eventually allayed their fears and brought him down safely after an hour-long operation.Passengers heading towards the bus station were in for an unusual sight when they spotted what appeared to be a body lying motionless on the semi-transparent canopy. They immediately alerted the police and fire brigade. Rescue personnel, however, struggled to reach the top of the canopy, which has no direct access route. Meanwhile, a crowd gathered on the elevated deck as teams worked out a way to bring the man down.“Rescue personnel managed to climb up to the metal ring supporting the canopy but could not reach the spot where the man was lying. Fortunately, the commotion woke him up. We persuaded him to carefully slide down the arched support to the ring, from where our team brought him down safely. One wrong move could have resulted in a fatal fall onto the deck or the auto stand below from a height of nearly 100 feet,” said a policeman at the spot.Yasin Tadvi, in-charge of the Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC), said authorities were investigating how the man managed to climb the structure without any support.The man, who was reportedly neither under the influence of alcohol nor mentally unstable, was later handed over to Thane Nagar police for further investigation. Preliminary information revealed that he had migrated from Amravati and was staying with his wife and child at Thane railway station.“Why he climbed the canopy remains unclear,” an official said.Meanwhile, commuters urged the authorities to take preventive measures to ensure there was no repeat of such an incident, which they said could also prove fatal.
