Reader’s Digest India – July 2019

Reader’s Digest

88 july 2019

they hung up, the phone rang again:

another of Lythcott’s friends. And

so it went for the next two hours.

Getzler-Vaughan frantically multi-

tasked, working by phone, text,

and email, receiving and parsing a

landslide of information from the

Facebook posse: screenshots, maps,

tips, phone numbers, Lythcott’s

date of birth, his family contacts, all

with the aim of sending a physical

search party to the correct location.

Someone had even activated the US

State Department’s emergency op-

erations centre in Washington, DC.

Getzler-Vaughan passed on what she

knew to officials in Bali. At 5:29 a.m.,

less than an hour after his Facebook

SOS, she texted Lythcott: “Someone

from our office in Bali has the info

your friends have sent us.”

“Can’t move,” he typed back. Then

he added: “6 perrxcntt batt.”

T

empers were beginning to fray

on Lythcott’s feed. His well-

intentioned friends were clog-

ging the thread by voicing concern or

requesting updates. In so doing, they

were burying important information

Balinese authorities would need if

they were to rescue him and Eno.

“For Christ’s sake, EVERYONE STOP

POSTING,” one poster snapped. “Un-

less you have an update we need

this thread to STOP NOW.” All capital

letters—the internet’s cue that you are

raising your voice.

Another took exception: “Dude.

Please stop yelling at everyone.”

The reply: “Our friend is in seri-

ous trouble and needs help. I will

yell my face off if that helps to get a

point across!”

Meanwhile, half a world away,

Eno and Lythcott lay bleeding in

the ravine. Any time Eno came to,

she was overwhelmed by her fear

of falling. “I’m slipping,” she said.

“Try to hang on,” Lythcott said.

“Help is coming.”

“How long?”

He had no idea. By then, his phone

battery had died. Now they were

truly alone.

L

ythcott was drifting in and

out of consciousness when he

heard the sound of brush rus-

tling. He tensed up. Bali has snakes—

cobras and pythons—and he wasn’t

exactly in a condition to defend him-

self. He waited anxiously as whatever

it was approached. Soon the sound

turned into a murmur, then into

voices. A search party!

Speaking little English, four rescu-

ers carefully cradled Lythcott’s back

“EVERYONE STOP POSTING!

Unless you have

an update we need this

thread to STOP NOW!”