Eiffel Tower shutdown leads to surprise engagement
Visitors get stuck on top of the Eiffel Tower and one couple decides to make the most of the occasion by getting engaged. (The Associated Press)
A Washington, D.C.-based couple, Amir Khan and Kat Warren, thought their trip to the Eiffel Tower on Thursday, Oct. 19, would be fairly uneventful.
Instead, the two were stranded there with dozens of other tourists after a man climbed the tower, forcing its elevators to shut down.
Faced with the unexpected delay in their travel itinerary, Khan decided to make the most of their wait.
He asked Warren to marry him.
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She said yes.
A reporter from the Associated Press was also among the stranded tourists at the top of the Eiffel Tower.
Amir Khan proposed to his fiancée Kat Warren after the two were stranded atop the Eiffel Tower. "I figured we might be here longer than I imagined," Khan said. (The Associated Press)
"I figured we might be here longer than I imagined," Khan told the AP reporter.
He had been planning on proposing later that evening, in a much more private setting than at one of the top tourist attractions in Paris.
"So I didn’t want to miss dinner and she always wanted to be proposed to on or under the Eiffel Tower," said Khan.
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"So I figured, ‘This is it. This is the moment.’"
Warren told the reporter that her fiancé "had a pretty good chance of me saying ‘yes’ all along" — and that her decision was not influenced by the fact that she was trapped over 1,000 feet in the air with Khan at the time of his proposal.
Tourists were stranded at the top of the Eiffel Tower while police and firefighters dealt with a man who chose to climb the structure. (AP Photo/Pat Eaton-Robb)
First opened in 1889, the Eiffel Tower is visited by about 7 million people each year.
The tower was built in just over two years, a "veritable technical feat," says its website.
The tower's top viewing point is 1,083 feet in the air.
Tourists can either take the stairs or an elevator from the ground to the Eiffel Tower's second floor, where they then have to board a separate elevator to reach the third floor.
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The man who was climbing the tower was arrested, Alice Beunardeau, communications director for the Eiffel Tower, told the Associated Press.
He was discovered between the second and third floors of the tower, she said.
"I didn’t want to miss dinner and she always wanted to be proposed to on or under the Eiffel Tower. So I figured, ‘This is it. This is the moment.’"
The still-unidentified man reportedly had a banner reading "Free Billie Eilish," said Beunardeau.
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"I’m not certain of that at this moment, but on the face of it, that was the message," she added.
Police arrested a man who was climbing the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Thursday. He reportedly had a banner reading "Free Billie Eilish." (AP Photo/Michel Euler, File)
Billie Eilish is a Grammy Award-winning singer.
Her most recent studio album, "Happier Than Ever," was released in 2021, and her recent single "What Am I Made For?" was featured on the "Barbie" soundtrack.
This is the second time in recent months that someone has climbed something to protest for the release of Eilish, who is not currently incarcerated.
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In April 2023, a man climbed 30 feet up a local news tower in Los Angeles holding a handmade "Free Billie Eilish" sign.
It is not known if this is the same person who was arrested in Paris on Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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