The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Nokia takes bullet for hijack victim

Anti-killer mobile app?

  • print
  • alert

Cloud storage: Lower cost and increase uptime

A South African man has proved that yakking on your mobile while driving may not be the threat to road safety many claim it is. In fact, it could save your life.

André Steyn owes his current wellbeing to his mobile phone after the selfless device took a bullet for the merchant during an attempted hijack.

In early May, Steyn was travelling outside Johannesburg in a four-ton truck and trailer when a gang of would-be hijackers opened fire: "I heard a 'doof-doof' sound and one of my colleagues shouted 'they are shooting at us!' Alongside the truck was a bright red car with a man hanging out the window. I saw a flash and after the second shot I felt a pain in my hand," Steyn later recounted.

In fact, a bullet passed straight through Steyn's hand and would have done some serious damage to his temple had his mobile phone not intervened. Steyn then thwarted the hijack by forcing the attackers' car onto a roadside embankment, although they subsequently escaped.

Despite two bouts of surgery on his hand, Steyn is understandably full of praise for his departed mobile, noting: "At least I know who my angel is: it must be Nokia."

Steyn now packs a 6610i. The model of its bullet-proof predecessor is not noted. ®

Related stories

Mobile phones drive us mental: official
Nokia deploys 'wave messaging' mobile
Mobile phones are a pain in the neck

SaaS data loss: The problem you didn’t know you had

More from The Register

1,000 O2 staff chose redundancy over Capita
Betrayal, or just decent terms?
Google launches broadband balloons, radio astronomy frets
A careless Loon could blind the square kilometre array
 breaking news
Pttow! Ofcom kicks hams out of MoD bands
Geet off my land, you, you ... 'secondary user'
 breaking news
Now you can use your phone instead of your wallet at the ATM, too
Blimey, these little paper towels out of the vending machine are really expensive
 breaking news
UK.gov's £530m bumpkin broadband rollout: 'Train crash waiting to happen'
Whitehall whispers of damning watchdog report next month
 breaking news
MySpace zaps millions of teens' tearful rants, causes wave of angst
'Your crappy redesign SUCKS, I wanna read my blogs' screech users
 breaking news
Microsoft Office 365 on iPhone NOW: No, we're not making this up
Word, Excel, Powerpoint for your pocket-stroker
EU signs off on eCall emergency-phone-in-every-car plan
GPS and a mobe in every car - do you suppose the NSA would fancy that?
 breaking news
White Space wonga time: White House tips $100m into next-gen comms
Empty frequencies right place for tomorrow's mics, phones and fridges