Thursday 5 March 2009

Twitter and iPhone help find lost skier

A missing skier in the Swiss Alps has been rescued with the help of Twitter and an iPhone, but a snowboarder was found dead after the two were separated from the rest of their group on holiday in Verbier.

The Foreign Office has confirmed that the man who died was entrepreneur Rob Williams, 29, who went missing on Monday. Entrepreneur Rob, from Liverpool, was discovered in a stream at the foot of a cliff. He is thought to have fallen more than 60ft after getting lost near the resort. He was on holiday with a group of internet entrepreneurs including Michelle Dewberry, a former winner of the second series of The Apprentice.

Williams, and Jason Tavaria who was also 29, got into difficulty after becoming separated from fellow snowboarders in the resort. Tavaria survived and was found after Michelle Dewberry launched an online rescue on Twitter where she reportedly wrote, "2 of our ski party been missing since 4pm. Conditions terrible. 1 guy found but trapped. 20 man team searching for other." A helicopter search was not possible due to the bad weather conditions, but a GPS signal from Tavaria’s iPhone was used to guide in the rescue services. The rescue attempt continued to unfold on Twitter as details of the whereabouts of the two men were relayed back and forth. The search sadly ended with the discovery of the body of Rob Williams but Jason Tavaria was found unharmed about 6 hours later.

No comments: