A rescue team tries to assist a repairman who was trapped and who later died inside one of the steel columns of Ingvar Cronhammar’s sculpture “Elia” in Herning, Denmark, on Tuesday. Mikkel Berg Pedersen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Police in Denmark say a repairman died while working on a steel column that is part of a massive sculpture in the city of Herning.
Jutland region police said the 46-year-old man was performing maintenance work on the sculpture, titled “Elia,” and was nearing the top of the 105-feet-high column when the crane operator hoisting him up lost radio contact late Tuesday afternoon.
A rescue operation with another crane ended when the repairman was found suspended on the column and declared dead by a doctor at the site.
Police said it remained unclear whether the man died of a medical condition or an accident related to his work.
“Elia,” created by Swedish-Danish sculptor Ingvar Cronhammar, was inaugurated in 2001. It consists of a spherical central dome with a diameter of 200 feet and four tall columns. A tube in the center of the sculpture is designed randomly blast flames some 26 feet into the air at intervals.
Danish media said it wasn’t the first time a person had died in connection with the artwork, part of the collection of the Herning Museum of Contemporary Art.
In 2016, a 21-year-old man died after falling from the dome, and later the same year a woman died the same way. As a result, a safety net was installed around the sculpture.
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