Advances in technology can be both baffling and worrying.

But the Internet — and the quick thinking of police — really is responsible for the fact that a man from Wantage is still alive after an attempt to commit suicide.

The 23-year-old was chatting on a website with a woman from Australia when he posted a message declaring he would “kill myself in 15 minutes”, before abruptly ending the conversation.

In an amazing example of quick-thinking, the woman contacted a friend living in Cambridgeshire through the website they had been using. He in turn contacted his local police.

Officers in Cambridgeshire then contacted Wantage police station and, barely 30 minutes later, Sgt Georgia Taitt and Pc Louise Russell arrived at the man’s home to find him hanging in his bedroom.

He was semi-conscious, but is now out of hospital having made a full recovery.

The world is a large place, but it seems remarkable a woman from a location almost as far away as it is possible to be from Wantage could instigate a round-the-world emergency response with a positive outcome.

We must also not forget the swift action of the two Wantage police officers involved in the story.

In an age when it is all too easy to blast the police for slow response times, this story really does go to prove otherwise.