Countdown to end of fast
2003-10-19 16:02
London - US illusionist David Blaine will be ending his 44-day fast on Sunday.
Blaine is in a bid to survive 44 days without food in a box suspended above London's River Thames.
His small transparent container next to Tower Bridge will be lowered to the ground at about 21:00.
The 30-year-old illusionist was then due to be placed on a stretcher and rushed to a private hospital, where a medical team will assess whether 44 days of drinking only water has permanently affected his heart or other organs.
Blaine, who has suffered severe palpitations and breathing difficulties in recent days, is expected to stay in hospital for some days, and will not be restored to full health for around six months, doctors say.
Since Blaine began the stunt on September 5, the area around his glass cell has become one of London's most unusual tourist sights, attracting both admiration and contempt.
Critics have condemned the fast - officially titled "Above the Below" - as pointless and offensive given that millions go hungry around the world each day without being paid for it.
Some of the 250 000 who have visited the site during his fast have come up with increasingly inventive ways to taunt or unsettle Blaine such as using a remote-control model helicopter to dangle a cheeseburger in front of the starving magician.
Others drove golf balls off Tower Bridge, threw eggs, used a homemade catapult to shoot paint bombs at the box, banged drums to keep him awake at night or merely shouted abuse.