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Tourist walks off pier while browsing on Facebook Tourist walks off pier while browsing on Facebook
(about 17 hours later)
A tourist is lucky to be alive after she fell into Melbourne's Port Phillip Bay while browsing on Facebook, police say. A tourist had to be rescued by police after plunging off a pier while browsing Facebook on her phone, officials said.
The woman was walking along St Kilda pier engrossed in social media when she walked off the pier into the dark and chilly water about 11.30pm on Tuesday. The woman was walking along a bay in Melbourne on Monday night when she became distracted by her Facebook feed and plummeted off the pier into the chilly water, Victoria state police said.
A quick-thinking witness raised the alarm. Police officers were able to point out the distressed woman floundering in the water to the water police, who rescued her about 20 metres from the pier. It is believed the woman did not know how to swim. She was taken to hospital for treatment. A witness called for help and police rushed to the woman's aid. They found her flailing around in the water, about 20m (65ft ) from the pier.
There will be no need for a lost property report as the woman kept hold of her mobile phone throughout the ordeal. "She was still out in the water lying on her back in a floating position because she told us later that she couldn't swim," senior Constable Dean Kelly of the state water police told ABC television. "She still had her mobile phone in her hand and initially she apologised and said sorry."
The woman was taken to a hospital for treatment. Police declined to say which country the woman came from.
"With Facebook, or social media in general as far as we're concerned, if you're anywhere near the water just pay attention," Kelly said. "Especially if you can't swim."
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