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Woman injured in fall from Hamburg Bismarck statue as musical stunt goes wrong

Lucinda Watts
Lucinda Watts - [email protected]
Woman injured in fall from Hamburg Bismarck statue as musical stunt goes wrong
The Bismarck Monument in Hamburg. Photo:DPA

A publicity stunt for the Kinky Boots musical almost turned deadly when an artist lost her grip and fell off the Bismarck Monument in Hamburg while attempting to promote the show.

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32-year-old Ulrike B. was part of a pair of pop artists commissioned to promote the musical 'Kinky Boots', which is coming to the Hamburg Opera house in December, the Hamburger Morgenpost reports.

The artists, employed by ad agency Heimat Hamburg, were supposed to hang two red boot-shaped tarpaulins over the legs of the former imperial chancellor at the monument in order to create what the production company, Stage Entertainment, hoped would be a media-coup. 

On Thursday morning, the pair scaled the 34 metre tall monument in the Alten Elbpark, forgoing professional climbing equipment, with serious consequences.

At around 8 am, the 32-year-old pop artist lost her balance and fell around 5m onto the granite base of the monument.

Through the fall, the woman was seriously injured, sustaining a pelvic fracture and a cranial brain trauma.

The pop artists had not sought out permission from the district office for the publicity stunt and, according to a department spokesperson “we would’ve certainly not approved such action”. 

According to the fire service report,12 firemen rescued the woman from the 10 metre high platform with an aerial ladder and she was taken to a hospital to be treated for her injuries.

"We are investigating the agency, Heimat Hamburg, for negligent personal injury," a spokesperson for the Hamburg Police service told Bild.

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