Chinese tightrope walker on wire fall

A Chinese tightrope walker has said the hot weather was to blame for his failure to complete a 200m high wire walk on Sunday.

Aisikaier, a sixth-generation acrobat from the Dawa Zi ethnic group of northwest China's Xinjiang province, walked backwards and blindfolded on a 700m-long tightrope 200m above ground in Hunan province in central China.

The temperature on that day was 39C, and the steel wire at the starting point was measured to be 32.1C.

In an interview Aisikaier talked about how he felt the moment when he slipped off the wire, and also announced that his next challenge was to walk on a steel wire linking two hot-air balloons.