Cellphones are a lifeline for thousands of New Zealanders, and now a little known emergency contact system makes finding a victim's family much a simpler task.
The first people at the scene of yesterday's brutal stabbing of Auckland businessman Austin Hemmings used his cellphone to notify his next of kin.
What made it easier was Hemmings had adopted the system, called 'ICE', or 'In Case of Emergency'.
Now emergency services are encouraging others to do the same.
The system encourages mobile phone users to save their next of kin's details into their cellphones under the acronym 'ICE', so in an emergency those first on the scene know who to call.
Mobile phone service providers say it makes perfect sense.
"Most people don't carry emergency information with them, but they do carry a cellphone full of numbers, so having an ice number lets emergency services who they need to contact," says Vodafone's Tom Newitt.
Started three years ago by a British paramedic, ICE surged in popularity in the UK after the 2005 London bomb attacks, and yesterday it came into its own here.
Those first on the scene of the stabbing of Mr Hemmings notified his next of kin after finding his ICE contacts on his cellphone.
St John ambulance staff and police endorse the use of the system.
"It's a practise that is used by the advanced paramedics, paramedics staff to gain information about the person's medical conditions, about their histories," says Detective Senior Sergeant Gerry Whitley.
New Zealanders are keen on the 'ICE' idea.
Simple and effective, it is also a number phone users hope will never have to be used.
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