'Spiderman' arrested after failed climb

A daredevil climber who climbs skyscrapers without ropes has been arrested in Malaysia as he climbed the world's tallest twin towers.

Alain Robert, known as the "French Spiderman", slipped past security guards at the 88-storey Petronas Twin Towers.

The 44-year-old reached the 60th floor before giving himself up.

"It's a great view from here. There is so much action and it is funny to see people inside the offices staring at me," Mr Robert said by phone as he climbed the glass-panelled structure.

Midway through his climb it was like a scene from an action movie with Robert hanging on a ledge on the 35th floor as a police helicopter hovered nearby.

Hundreds of onlookers, many taking pictures with their camera phones, cheered him on.

But a team of firemen and policemen finally stopped him and ordered him to re-enter the building through an opening on the 60th floor. He did not resist.

"We told him to stop," said Christopher Chong, a fire official co-ordinating the arrest.

"He waved the Malaysian flag at us. We clapped and he let us take him in."

Wearing a yellow T-shirt made especially to commemorate his Malaysian bid, Robert was handcuffed and escorted back to earth before he was taken away in a police car. It was not immediately known if he would be charged with anything.

The climb was Robert's second failed bid to scale the Petronas Towers.

Exactly ten years ago, he was arrested on the 60th floor of the other tower, a mission he accomplished in 30 minutes.

Robert has climbed over 65 buildings around the world, including the Eiffel Tower, London's Canary Wharf building, New York's Empire State Building and Chicago's Sear's Tower.

"I find it interesting. It's a kind of urban mountain," Mr Robert said. "The good thing is there is always a new urban Everest."

In 2004 he fended off stormy weather to climb the world's tallest building, Taipei 101, in Taiwan's capital.

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.