Elderly man wanted to hang laundry – and accidentally cut a worker's rope at a height of 30 floors

A worker climbing the facade of a skyscraper in China discovered that his safety rope had been cut. When he went down to investigate, he found that an 80-year-old elderly man had cut the rope to use it for hanging laundry. The worker took pity on the elderly man and settled for a symbolic compensation of 400 yuan. The incident went viral on Chinese social media with over 61 million views.

An unusual incident in China: a worker renovating the facade of a skyscraper in the city of Foshan, Guangdong Province, discovered that his rappelling rope had been cut. The incident occurred when the worker, identified as Liu, descended from the 30th floor along the building's facade. As he approached the second floor, he noticed that one of his work ropes had been cut and a large section of it was left coiled on a ledge. When he went to find out who was responsible, he was shocked to discover that an elderly resident, about 80 years old, had cut the rope because he needed it to hang laundry. The elderly man claimed he did not know there was a person hanging on ropes outside the building. Despite the life-threatening danger, Liu showed extraordinary compassion: he considered the resident's advanced age and decided not to file a police report. Instead, he reached a modest compensation agreement with the elderly man of 400 yuan for the cost of the rope. On Chinese social media, emotions ran high: reports garnered over 61 million views, and many users expressed deep shock, arguing that this was a dangerous act that could not be settled with such a small financial compensation. The article notes that this is not the first such case, recalling a similar incident in Wuhan last July where a worker's backup rope was cut with a knife.