A Canadian teenager who tweeted about planning to commit suicide has been helped by concerned internet users from all over the world - potentially saving her life.
The girl, who has not been identified, posted a message to her Twitter account on Saturday night reading: 'I'm gonna attempt suicide tonight. Bye everyone.'
The message was read by people from all over the world - including Christopher Wiggins, a journalist 2,000 miles away from the Calgary teenager in Washington D.C.
'I happen to sympathize with people with depression because I've struggled with that kind of feeling myself,' he told WUSA9 after reading the message.
'There's nothing I can do that would make the situation worse other than to ignore it.'
While he said he could not be certain that the tweet was real, he said he could not just leave it. He looked back through the girl's earlier messages and saw many indicating she was unhappy.
So he stayed up throughout the night speaking to the girl, who lists her age as 17 on her Twitter page, after contacting her online.
'I began writing her with the simple question, "Are you okay?",' Wiggins told CTV. 'And I tried to engage her in a conversation and gain her trust to the point that I said, "If you need to talk, here’s my cell phone number".
'I said, "The police are trying to look for you, you know they're worried, a lot of people are worried about you".'
As he provided her support, he also urged her to pass over her number, and when she did, he alerted Calgary Police to ask for help.
Other people also responded to the tweet on her account, asking her to contact them or to call for help. Others provided updates to the situation by saying that the Calgary police had been alerted.
Officers told WUSA9 that Wiggins was not the only one to contact them, and that they had received alerts from people across North America.
They would not provide many details about the case, citing confidentiality, but they did say that they had checked on the teenager and that she was well.
'In this case, Twitter saved someone's life period,' Wiggins said. 'Twitter allowed the police, the public and the media to work together and confirm...someone in need.'
据英国《每日邮报》报道，上周六晚，一名加拿大少女在推特上发帖说自己准备自杀。全球网友表示了关切，并成功将她拯救。
这条从加拿大卡尔加里发出的推文写道：“我今夜准备自杀。再见，各位。”美国首都华盛顿的记者克里斯托弗·威金斯和世界网友一起读到了这条信息。他说：“我碰巧同情抑郁人群，因为我曾也受过类似之苦。如果忽视这条信息，就太糟了。”
威金斯说自己当时不确定推文是否真实，但至少觉得不能置之不理，回顾了这名少女早前的推文之后，发觉很多迹象显示她不开心。威金斯于是在线联系了这位自称17岁的姑娘，并和她畅谈至深夜。
从简单的问候到心理抚慰，威金斯在这过程中得知了女孩的电话号码。随后他致电卡尔加里的警察寻求帮助。看到推文的其他网友也提供帮助，比如发帖更新事件的进展。
警方说威金斯不是唯一联系他们的人，他们收到的报警来自北美各处。以保密为由，警方未进一步透露事件细节和少女的身份，不过表示他们已探访了这名姑娘，她状态良好。
“在此事中，推特拯救了一个人，”威金斯说，“推特让警方、大众和社交媒体协同合作，帮助了有需要的人。”
