Girlfriend's Tweet Saves Carjacking Victim In South Africa

A South African man who was carjacked and tossed in the trunk of his vehicle is safe after a tide of tweets turned in his favor.

According to the Daily Mail, the driver, who remains unidentified, was assailed by armed bandits in northwest Johannesburg on Saturday night.

The thieves shoved the man into the trunk of his Volkswagen Golf before speeding off, but neglected to confiscate his mobile phone. The man then texted his license plate number and the make of his vehicle to his girlfriend, Lynn Peters.

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Peters, who describes herself in her Twitter profile as a "fashion design student," tweeted the information to her followers, asking them to "be on the look" for her boyfriend's vehicle. Peters also contacted the police after tweeting the message, according to the Mail.

The Twitter plea went viral after one of Peters' friends, Tanisha Reddy, re-tweeted her message to PigSpotter, a "notorious cyber police basher and roadblock exposer" with 109,000 followers, according to the South Africa-based website Independent Online. PigSpotter's followers, many of whom work in the private security industry, soon began tracking the situation in real-time on Twitter.

Private security companies helped pinpoint the location of the car, which was ultimately stopped at a police roadblock more than 150 miles south of Johannesburg, according to the West Australian. The carjackers fled on foot, and the driver was found unharmed.

So far, no arrests have been made in connection with the carjacking.

South Africa is notorious for carjackings and NBC's Digital Life blog reports that private security companies like the ones that stepped in to help this carjacked victim "play a large role in keeping the crime rate under control" in South Africa.