Texting Woman Falls Into Canal Full Of Ice

A woman in Birmingham, England was so engrossed in her texting session that she didn’t realize what she thought was pavement was actually a large sheet of ice covering a watery canal.

Radio personality Laura Safe plunged into the icy water despite the cries of a man who happened to be walking by and realized what was about to happen; he ran over and managed to pull her to safety.

“I realized her focus was on her mobile phone and that she was going to walk straight into the water. I shouted to her to stop but it was too late. I dropped my phone and ran over to her. I had to lay down on the side with my arms in the water because she was submerged and pulled her out,” Neil Edginton said.

Much to Safe’s chagrin, the entire incident was captured on surveillance video, which is of course now making the rounds on the web.

“Oh dear. I should really be called Laura UNsafe after the day I’ve had!” she said. “I thought ice on the canal was pavement because it looked dark in the corner of my eye. I heard a man called out ’stop’ to me and I looked up at him, but it was too late by that point. I tried to get my balance and ended up slipping into the canal. But not before I’d saved my handbag and mobile phone. This man came running up Baywatch style, grabbed my hand and pulled me up. He was a hero and saved my life.”

Of course, Safe isn’t the first (or last, more than likely) person to take a spill while absorbed in her phone; a Michigan woman tumbled off a pier while texting, and a young girl in China learned that even the sidewalk is dangerous when you’re distracted by a device.