Text in time saves nimble-fingered teen

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Malaysian teen-ager woken by a night-time noise dashed off a warning text message to her mother just in time to be rescued from an intruder who burst into her bedroom.

Alerted by the mother's screams, relatives rushed to the rescue, breaking down a door and scaring off the man, who escaped through the back of the house, the New Straits Times said.

Salima Mohamad Noor, 17, said a man broke into her bedroom and placed a knife at her neck just as she finished sending the message on her cellular telephone.

"I was terrified and started screaming when he threatened to kill me," the newspaper quoted Salima as saying. "He also said no one would come to my rescue as he had already locked my mother's bedroom door from the outside."

But her mother's loud screams drew the attention of Salima's uncle, who kicked open the front door, frightening away the intruder, the paper added.

About 80 percent of Malaysia's population of roughly 26 million own a cell phone, statistics show, with many teenagers proficient in text messaging, as a cheaper way of talking to friends than telephone calls.