Teenage girl 'sleepwalks' up 130ft crane
A teenage sleepwalker has been rescued after being found asleep at the top of a 130ft crane.
Police were called to Underhill Road, Dulwich, south east London after a passer-by spotted the 15-year-old girl curled up on top of a concrete counterweight high above the ground.
The girl, who has not been named, had apparently managed to climb up the crane and walk across a narrow metal beam while fast asleep.
It is believed the girl walked unnoticed out of her home near a building site.
Police and the fire service were called to the scene amid fears she was about to throw herself off but when a firefighter crawled up the crane he found her sleeping.
The rescue operation took two and a half hours and the girl was finally brought down in a hydraulic lift at 4am.
A police spokeswoman said she was taken to hospital for a check-up but was allowed home when she was found to be unharmed.
Irshaad Ebrhim, of the London Sleep Centre, said he had treated people who had driven cars and ridden horses whilst asleep.
He said one patient "even attempted to fly a helicopter".
He said: "Sleepwalking is nothing to do with dreaming because it occurs in a non-dreaming sleep state."
Sleepwalking affects one in ten people at least once in their lives.
Most incidents are short and are not dangerous but it can sometime result in injury.
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