Two American tourists were found sleeping off a heavy night in the heights of Paris' Eiffel Tower yesterday, after dodging security the night before, the monument's operator said.
Security guards roused the men "in the early morning" as they were making their rounds before the French landmark's 9am opening time yesterday, publicly-owned Eiffel Tower operator Sete said.
They "appear to have got stuck because of how drunk they were", Paris prosecutors said.
The inebriated Americans had spent the night under the stars in a spot normally closed to the public between the tower's second and third levels, but "did not pose any apparent threat", said Sete.
After paying for an entry ticket around 10.40pm on Sunday, the pair hopped security barriers while climbing down the stairs from the tower's top, a police source said.
Firefighters, including a specialist unit for recovering people from dangerous heights, were sent to recover the pair, the police source added.
Both men were brought to the police station in Paris' seventh district for questioning, while Sete said it would file a criminal complaint.
The discovery of the two men delayed the tower's opening to the public yesterday morning for around an hour.
On Saturday, two bomb threats forced the landmark to be evacuated, and police are now investigating.
A further email with a bomb threat against the 330-metre steel tower was sent to three Paris police stations yesterday, but police advised against evacuating it.
