A Malaysian man was stranded on top of a twenty three foot billboard for almost seven hours after a botched attempt to steal its spotlight. His accomplice had left the scene with both the light and the ladder.

The man did not willingly come down and swung at would-be rescuers with a steel rod during negotiations with police.

As the day wore on, firefighters threw buckets of water over him to prevent dehydration along with cigarettes and lunch.

"We thought at first that he was a billboard cleaner or something but when we returned from our prayers about two hours later, he was still there," a local resident said.

"Despite attempts to persuade the suspect to come down, he refused and was content to sit up there," local assistant police chief Amer Awal told the New Straits Times.

Firefighters eventually nabbed him through a raised platform while the others distracted him by spraying water.