An incredibly agile Chinese social media star and fearless “rooftopper” plunged 62 floors to his death from a high-rise in the city of Changsha, police confirmed to Chinese media. He captured his fatal fall on a video camera he had set up.
Wu Yongning, 26, was doing pull-ups at the top of the Huayuan Hua Center when he seemed to lose strength, then his grip, and fell, the video, which has gone viral, shows. (The video above does not show his fall.)
The accident apparently occurred last month, although it wasn’t until a week ago that Wu’s girlfriend posted a notice on social media about his death, according to a Washington Post report linked to the Chinese-language site Sina.com. Authorities are calling it an accident and have ruled out sabotage, according to The Sun.
Wu had amassed a million followers on the Chinese social media platform Weibo while posting death-defying videos of himself in precarious positions at the top of very tall buildings without any safety equipment. By the time of his death, he had videotaped about 300 stunts. Some of the videos are available here.
Wu suddenly disappeared from Weibo in early November, and his girlfriend later confirmed that he had died in a fall. He plunged from the Changsha building in Hunan province while participating in a contest to win $15,000, according to Chinese media, which offered no further information about the competition.
Wu, from Ningxiang in Hunan, planned to propose to his girlfriend the day after the contest, a family member told the South China Morning Post. He also reportedly hoped to use his expected winnings to help his ill mother.
Wu, who had martial arts training, had worked as a movie extra. He left the job to focus full time on rooftopping, and often appeared in social media advertisements.
Wu was careful to warn people in each one of his videos not to try to imitate his stunts.
Rooftopping has slowly grown in popularity in urban landscapes in recent years. The demanding “spot” draws participants to the summits of the city in search of the ultimate social media photo.