September 14, 2009 | 12:33 pm

Trapped girls Facebook their way out

Posted by Sam Gliksman

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I feel that it’s my responsibility to keep you apprised of developments in the field of technology use. It pains me to have to reveal that this bulletin is about two girls from Australia - my country of origin - but the story is just so absurd that I had to swallow my national pride and report it.

Two girls in Adelaide, Australia found themselves trapped in a storm drain ... one could end the story there and wonder how they managed to get themselves into a storm drain in the first place. Faced with the prospect of being lost in the drains for days, they conjured up a unique and creative solution to their problem.  They managed to update their status on Facebook revealing that they were trapped and in desparate need of assistance. How did they accomplish it?  They used their cell phone!!

Rather than use their cell phone to actually DIAL for emergency help, they instead used it to update their status and send out a call to their Facebook friends. One of their friends read the update and called the Fire Department. Thankfully they were released within a few hours.

Firefighter Glenn Benham, who took part in the rescue, said: “These girls were able to access Facebook on their mobile phones so they could have called the emergency services. It seems absolutely crazy but they updated their status rather than call us directly.”

Technology can be wonderful asset but it’s never a replacement for common sense…

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