Blaine slowly loses it

2003-10-17 21:32

London - US illusionist David Blaine was battling severe palpitations and breathing difficulties on Friday with just over two days to go in his bid to survive 44 days without food in a box suspended above London's River Thames, his spokesperson said.

For the last 42 days, Blaine, 30, has been suspended in a clear glass box next to London's Tower Bridge with water as his only sustenance.

"David changes every couple of hours but he is suffering from breathing difficulties and severe palpitations," the illusionist's spokesperson said.

"He also gets blurry vision. His goal is to aim for Sunday," the spokesperson said.

Blaine, a New Yorker whose previous stunts include freezing himself in ice for nearly 62 hours, has pulled hundreds of thousands of spectators, many of them hostile, since his fast began on September 5.

After the box is lowered at 21:30 on Sunday, Blaine will be put on a stretcher and taken off in an ambulance to a private hospital, his spokesperson said.

It is expected to be a while before he starts eating normally again.

- AFP