On September 24th, Ms. Tao in Hefei, Anhui province, was repairing waterproofing on the 12th floor of a residential building when an elderly woman below cut the safety rope and ignored warnings, prompting Ms. Tao to call the police. The news quickly made it to the top of Baidu’s trending searches on September 25th, sparking public discussion.
Ms. Tao is a professional maintenance worker who was working on waterproofing facilities on the 12th floor of a building in Lujiang district, Hefei. While Ms. Tao was working at heights, she suddenly felt the safety rope moving, and upon looking down, she saw an elderly woman below holding a knife, cutting her safety rope.
Ms. Tao was extremely frightened because if the safety rope were cut, she could have fallen directly. She shouted loudly, hoping the elderly woman would stop, but the woman continued cutting the rope without listening to warnings.
While shouting, Ms. Tao tightly held onto other fixtures around her to prevent any risk of the safety rope being cut. At the same time, she dialed the emergency number. The elderly woman was later taken away by the police who arrived at the scene.
Video footage showed that the safety rope had already been cut by one-third. In the video, Ms. Tao mentioned that the elderly woman’s husband justified the cutting by claiming the safety rope passed through their wall outside, saying, “The wall belongs to their house, so they have the right to cut it.”
According to reports on a news website, the police have yet to announce any actions taken regarding this incident.
After the news release, netizens expressed strong opinions, with the majority criticizing the elderly woman for playing with someone else’s life.
User “易轌殘暘” commented: “This should be considered attempted murder and the perpetrator should be sentenced.”
Some netizens mentioned that the elderly person cutting the rope claimed to have heart disease and high blood pressure. In such cases with elderly individuals, as long as no substantial harm is done, the police may find it difficult to take legal actions against them.
Another netizen suggested that the elderly person should be detained, emphasizing that age should not be an excuse for potentially dangerous actions.
User “00怒切假腿00” stated: “Age is not an immunity from illegal actions. If detainment is necessary, it should be done.”
Baidu user 2573c2c added: “High-altitude operations should have at least one or more supervisors to ensure safety.”
Lastly, “清靜且樸實丶才俊” urged everyone to be kind and avoid causing chaos, especially in challenging tasks like high-altitude work.