once in awhile something happens that makes ya wonder at the how's and why's of life. it restores my faith that what is meant to be, is. ....and sometimes...that's a good thing.
it's a awesome story just the same.
Tourist rescued from icy sea after woman sees him on sunset webcam
Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 3 February 2010 15.43 GMT
A woman admiring the sunset on a tourist webcam in northern Germany saw a man stranded on the frozen North Sea and probably saved his life by alerting authorities, police said today.
The man had climbed over pack ice off the coast to photograph a sunset near the town of St Peter-Ording before becoming disoriented, said Kristin Stielow, a Husum police spokeswoman.
Unable to locate the beach, the man began using his camera to flash for help – and that caught the attention of a woman in southern Germany, hundreds of miles away, as she watched the sunset on her computer.
The woman contacted police, who located the man's signals and guided him back to the shore by flashing their car lights.
Police would not identify the man – who they later lectured on the dangers of trekking on the ice – or the woman who had seen him. Stielow said only that the man was a German tourist in his 40s.
She said local people were well aware of the risk of disorientation as darkness fell and the beach became hard to identify, but added that vivid sunsets over frozen landscapes often drew people away from the shore.
At the time the man lost his bearings the air temperature was below freezing and he could have frozen to death or fallen through the ice, she added.
St Peter-Ording, a popular tourist destination, is known for its beaches and sailing, and the local tourism board runs a website featuring a webcam.
The board, however, said images from the webcam were routinely deleted and the flashes from the man's camera had not been saved before the story came to light.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/fe ... sea-webcam?