Eiffel Tower evacuated after bomb threat
Paris, Sep 23 (efe-epa).- The Eiffel Tower was evacuated on Wednesday after a bomb threat.
The landmark in the French capital reopened in the early afternoon after checks were carried out.
Staff cleared the site after receiving an anonymous phone call saying there was an explosive device in the structure.
The company that manages the tower Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) told Efe the evacuation began at about 12.15 pm local time and that the alert was the first this year.
The monument reopened its doors to the public two hours later after the police carried out the relevant checks on the building and guaranteed its safety, SETE said.
The tower is open from 10.30 am to 6.30 pm local time from 14 September until 15 October.
It was forced to close for more than three months earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This was the site’s longest closure since World War Two and it reopened on 25 June.
During this time, the Parisian tower joined messages of solidarity for health workers and victims of the virus.
This included a luminous poster bearing messages of support to those affected for two hours at night.
The Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world with around 6.91 million people journeying to the top of the structure in 2015.
It is situated on the Champ de Mars in the French capital and was named after engineer Gustave Eiffel, who designed and built the wrought-iron lattice landmark.
The tower is 324 meters tall, about the same height as an 81-storey building, making it the tallest structure in Paris.
Its base is square, measuring 125 meters on each side. EFE-EPA
mgr-mdv/rb
