NEWS COPY - WITH VIDEO AND PICTURES

This is the astonishing moment a foreign tourist believed to be an Olympic gymnast hangs UPSIDE DOWN from cables in an airport rafters - before plunging to the ground.

The woman, said to be from Europe, was picked up at 3am this morning (Wed) wandering aimlessly on nearby roads and taken to Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand.

Staff said she was ‘’stressed’’ and tourist police at the airport gave her food and water to relax. But at around 9am she disappeared - before clambering over barriers on the third floor and onto the metal supports.

The woman - with Olympic rings tattooed on her wrist suggesting she may have competed as a gymnast - then hung upside down by her legs for before moving position to swing by her toes.

Rescuers spent TWO HOURS trying to talk her down before she finally fell and hit another cable on the way down before landing on a giant inflatable bed at around 11am.

Airport Deputy Director Kittipong Kittikachorn said: ‘’After being informed of the foreigner hanging from the roof we immediately dispatched all relevant departments to the area.

‘’She was found to be a girl, expected to be European but the nationality has not yet been determined. She has not spoken to anybody yet.’'

Rescue workers and firefighters arrived and inflated two giant cushions underneath the girl. She initially climbed to the 6th floor before navigating slowly down to the fourth floor, where she was hanging precariously.