A SUICIDAL Oxfordshire man was saved after an Internet friend raised the alarm from the other side of the world.

The 23-year-old man, from Wantage, was chatting on the b3ta.com website to a woman from Australia when he posted a message reading “I will kill myself in 15 minutes” and logged off.

The woman immediately contacted another friend she knew through the website from Cambridgeshire, who rang his local police.

They passed on the warning to Thames Valley Police and just half an hour after the message was posted, Sgt Georgia Taitt and Pc Louise Russell found the man in his home semi-conscious.

His sister was sitting downstairs unaware the man was trying to kill himself when the officers arrived.

It is the second time in three months a suicide has been thwarted by someone on the Internet in another country. In April, the Oxford Mail revealed a 16-year-old boy from Oxford was rescued after he told a friend on Facebook living in Maryland, USA he planned to commit suicide.

Sgt Taitt said: “This was all was due to the quick thinking of somebody on the other side of the world.

“It’s really nice to know that there are still people who will take these things seriously and act to prevent it.

“It was a chain of events passed around the world to us. Luckily I had a knife on me and I was able to cut the ligature.

“He was semi-conscious and I got him talking and left him in the hands of the paramedics.

“If it hadn’t been for the actions of these two people, who didn’t even know the man involved, it was likely to have a different outcome.”

The man was taken to hospital and has since made a full recovery.

It is believed none of the three people involved had ever met face-to-face.

The drama began at about 1.20pm on Tuesday, June 9 when the woman in Australia first read the message. Cambridgeshire Police were able to find the man’s postcode before contacting their Thames Valley colleagues.

Chief Insp Andy Boyd, area commander for Vale of White Horse, said: “This demonstrates how new technology can assist police. I would like to praise all those involved in this potentially life-threatening situation.”

In April, the 16-year-old was saved when a girl in Maryland contacted her local police. The alert went through The White House, British Embassy, the Metropolitan Police and then police in Oxford.