A young man in his 20s had the very bad idea of kissing the majestic Geneva water jet that rises 140 meters from Lake Geneva, reports the daily 20 Minutes.
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Despite the formal ban on approaching him, he crossed the access barrier to the water jet on Monday evening, as witnesses reported daily.
He first attempted to rest his face on the nozzle, which was spouting water at nearly 200 km/h, or 500 liters per second, according to figures from Geneva Industrial Services (GIS), which manages “the city’s most famous monument”.
Not surprisingly, the young man was violently thrown back.
Photo: AFP
But the ruthless didn’t stop there. After coming to his senses, he decided to wrap both arms around the jet, the daily reports.
This time he was thrown several meters into the air by the force of the water and fell back onto the plate surrounding the nozzle before throwing himself into the water.
The police, alerted by witnesses, then set out to fish him out.
“The agents came with a request to urgently pause the jet d’eau so they can collect it,” a witness told 20 Minutes.
The police “rescued him and heaved him into their boat,” said Aline Dard, spokeswoman for the Geneva police. With the support of an ambulance, the young man was taken to the University Hospitals of Geneva.
His condition was initially unknown.
The SIG announced that it would file a complaint, as it regularly does when the security perimeter is breached.
Geneva has had a water jet since 1891, currently operational and inaugurated in 1951.
Like many monuments around the world, Le Jet d’eau is decorated with different colors to mark specific events or celebrations: the colors of the rainbow in solidarity with the LGBT+ community, red and white for Swiss National Day.
In 2020, the city had decided to halt operations for several months to mark semi-containment due to the Covid-19 pandemic.