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Webcam-Watching Woman Spots and Saves Man Lost on Ice

by Caleb Johnson on February 3, 2010 at 04:53 PM

Sometimes, albeit rarely, what initially seems like wasting time on the Web can turn out to be anything but that. Case in point, a German woman who had only wanted to enjoy a beautiful view via a webcam recently became a long-distance lifesaver.

According to the Associated Press, an unidentified woman was recently watching a live webcam broadcast of the sun setting over the North Sea when she noticed a flashing light on the ice. After looking closer, she realized the light was coming from a man's camera. The unidentified man had apparently wandered onto the ice to take pictures of the same sunset, and had become disoriented. The woman called authorities from hundreds of miles away and reported what she'd seen. The police drove out to the coast and guided the man back to safety by flashing the lights on their vehicles. Authorities admonished the 40-something-year-old tourist for wandering onto the ice, and sent him on his way.

It's a good thing this woman was watching the webcam, and that it's operated by the tourism board of St. Peter-Ording. If not, this foolish tourist could've frozen to death or fallen through the ice. Who knew enjoying a gorgeous sunset (from hundreds of miles away, nonetheless) could save a life? [From: Associated Press/Huffington Post]

Tags: camera, germany, ice, rescue, top, tourist, web, webcam

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