MONUMENT CLOSED FOR SIX HOURS AMID REPORTS OF AN INTRUDER - PROBABLY A BASE-JUMPER THE Eiffel Tower was closed for six hours on Sunday amid reports of an intruder climbing the tower before

opening time. Queues several hundred metres long formed at each of the four bases as information boards showed the message: "Opening delayed" - before a security perimeter was set

up. A security source told Le Parisien: "An individual was spotted inside the tower with a backpack. To avoid any doubt, a helicopter was called in to carry out a full inspection."

A police officer on the scene told the paper that the intruder could have been an extreme sports fan attempting a parachute jump from the top of the monument. However, no one was found and