A trespasser was reluctantly rescued from a broadcast tower in St. Louis, Missouri, after climbing 900 ft (274 meters) up while barefoot.

Maplewood Fire Department and Affton Fire District responded to assist with the rescue of an unauthorized climber at the 1,100-foot-tall (335 meters) KSDK TV Tower on Heege Road in Affton, St. Louis County, at around 2.30pm on Wednesday (October 22).

An individual, described by local press as a possibly intoxicated 17/18-year-old, hopped the fence after the team’s workday had ended due to wind and began climbing barefoot towards the top of the structure.

The tower workers, on-site to paint the tower, rushed to position themselves above the trespassing climber and prevent him from reaching the top antenna.

Once reached, the tower worker was reportedly unable to move the uncooperative climber from the tower into the hoist basket alone, with the trespasser making several attempts to get past the tower worker and continue his climb.

The climber was eventually held in place against the tower, around 900 ft up, for some 30 minutes until fire service workers were able to secure him into a harness and bring him into the hoist basket. He was brought down unharmed and taken to hospital for evaluation.

“The worker on site saved the victim's life by holding them against the tower,” the Maplewood Fire Dept said. “These types of rescues are very rare but due to the training and skill of everyone on scene, it was a success.”

The transmission tower was turned off during the incident for safety reasons, fire department officials said. Its unclear if the individual will be charged for the incident.

According to the tower team, the climber had been on the property earlier, pretending to be a worker, but was told to leave. He then broke into the property as the team were leaving for the day and was spotted by one of the crew, who moved to stop him.

Steven Garcia, a broadcast tower technician for Fullwave Tower & Broadcast, originally tried to climb up to the trespasser once he had started making his way up the tower, before switching to the hoist and basket to get above him and prevent him getting higher.

“I get to about 300 feet, he’s about 200 feet above me,” he told reporters. “I called to him: I said, Hey, please stop climbing. He wouldn’t stop.”