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Twitter Plays Role in Rescue Attempts of Snowboarders

by Lee Bains on March 4, 2009 at 08:32 PM



The micro-blogging service Twitter played a role in attempts to rescue two snowboarders lost in Switzerland this week, reports Fox News.

British Internet entrepreneurs Rob Williams and Jason Tavaria were snowboarding in the Verbier ski resort Monday when bad weather separated them from their party.

Over the next 24 hours, concerned friends and colleagues took to Twitter, spreading news of Tavaria and Williams's disappearance and seeking information on their whereabouts. One member of the ski party, and one of the more active Twitterers among the group, Alex Hoye tweeted, "Jason now found using GPS / Google maps & phone ... still working on finding Rob."

While Tavaria was located and rescued by police, Williams, sadly, was found to have fallen over a cliff and passed away.

Despite Hoye's claims, the Valais police insist that the Internet played no role in their rescue attempts, making clear that they -- not the men's tweeting friends -- found the two. [From: Fox News]

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Tags: microblogging, rescue, skiing, snowboarding, social networking, SocialNetworking, twitter

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