Kidnapped aid workers get hi-tech lifeline

Kidnapped aid workers could be saved by a new hi-tech bracelet which uses Facebook and Twitter to alert millions of people to a hostage crisis.

The device has been fitted with satellite navigation technology and is linked to social media so it can inform on an attack within seconds.

The first bracelets are to be handed out in the coming week in a bid to save lives in war zones where the risk of kidnap is high.

The Civil Rights Defenders campaign group, which has produced the bracelets, said the chunky gadgets can be triggered manually when an aid worker or civil rights activist comes under threat, or if the bracelet is forcefully removed.

Each device is fitted with mobile phone technology which enables it to immediately send out a message to any nearby contacts and to the Civil Rights Defenders headquarters where the attack can be verified before a message is transmitted on social networking sites.

The bracelets issue the wearer’s real-time GPS location so rescue teams can locate where the attack took place and its timing.

The personal alarm, named the Natalia Project after Russian human rights campaigner Natalia Estemirova who was murdered in the North Caucasus in 2009, will be distributed to five aid workers in Stockholm, Sweden, this week.