Facebook User Makes a Big Splash

A woman from Taiwan needed a police rescue after being so engrossed in Facebook that she fell off a pier.

The unnamed woman was visiting St Kilda’s pier in Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne, Australia. While clutching her cellphone, she fell off the pier at around 11.30 pm at night.

The good news is that the pier is relatively low to the water so there wasn’t too much of a drop. The bad news is that police say it appears the woman didn’t know how to swim.

Thankfully a witness called the police who in turn called water police units. They rescued her around 20 meters from the pier. According to water police officer Dean Kelly, speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, when officers first arrived the woman told them that “I was checking my Facebook page on the phone and I’ve fallen in.”

The woman was in the water for around 20 minutes. Kelly said that although she couldn’t swim, she was able to float on her back, thanks in part to her wearing a backpack.

Although the woman was taken to hospital and described by police as “lucky to be alive,” the police drily added that “There will be no need for a lost property report as the woman kept hold of her mobile phone throughout the entire ordeal.”

(Image credit: Tourism Victoria)