The Kuala Lumpur fire and rescue department said it received a call from the man at 10.23am as he stood on the ledge, with the emergency dispatcher, Azaha Yasim, spending about 30 minutes trying to convince him to come down from the ledge.

“The man asked to speak with a friend of his, a celebrity who is also a radio announcer. The department managed to get in touch with the celebrity before connecting the call to the man,” it said.

A team of firefighters who arrived at the scene at 10.32am could not approach the man as he had a parang in his hand.

The man was finally convinced to step down from the ledge by both the radio announcer – who was still on the phone – and the firemen at the scene, before he was handed over to the police for further action.

The operation ended at 12.29pm.

The department later identified the comedian and radio announcer as Hanaffi Razak, better known as Ajak Shiro, who is with Suria Radio.