Whether you approve of their existence or not, the tallest buildings in the world are among the most iconic structures made by humankind. They’re probably the first buildings you’d see when you travel into the city of any country. We have a few of our own iconic tall buildings, which are the Petronas Twin Towers, KL Tower, and the new Merdeka 118 tower.
Other than iconic symbols, do you know what else tall towers could be? Magnets for daredevils. There will always be those who crave to climb and document themselves at the top of the tallest buildings in the world. This couple, for instance, recently posted photos of themselves at the top of the Merdeka 118 – but netizens aren’t too sure about the authenticity of these images.
Daredevil Russian couple Ivan Beerkus and Angela Nikolau are known to post photos and videos of themselves climbing and posing on top of skyscrapers around the world without any safety equipment. One of their recent visits was to Malaysia, where they claimed to have climbed the Merdeka 118 tower. Ivan posted the photos on a website called Skyscrapercity – but netizens noticed something amiss.
The photos were reposted on Reddit, where netizens commented on how the images could be fake, as the couple failed to post them on their official social media accounts. Some netizens speculated that the photos were not genuine, as there could be no way for them to access the top of the tower without being noticed by security. Others said that the photos could have been photoshopped, as the Russians appear out of proportion.
If you carefully inspect the photos, you’ll notice that one was taken sometime during the morning, while the other was in the evening – which would make it impossible for them to be out of security’s sight, as the building is still under construction and would be full of workers during those hours.
https://twitter.com/xbtkev/status/1608121389138976770?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1608121389138976770%7Ctwgr%5E1afebd82df2886545752b7f36acf3b1f69459c75%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.skyscrapercity.com%2Fthreads%2Fkuala-lumpur-merdeka-118-679m-2227ft-118-fl-t-o.1239285%2Fpage-290
While the photos fail to convince some, there’s apparently a video of the stunt, taken by a drone, and posted online by a netizen. Compared to the photos, the footage looks real – but again, there’s no way to actually confirm their authenticity.
After the photos went viral, The News Straits Times reported that an investigation will be carried out following the incident. SAYS also reported that neither Ivan Beerkus nor Angela Nikolau responded to their requests for comment.
Sources: TheVocket, Skyscrapercity, Reddit, NST, SAYS
