Bystander's warning came a little too late

Texting Woman Falls Into Icy Canal

By Christina Lopez | ABC News Blogs – 7 hours ago

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We've all done it-texting while walking. And bumping into someone or falling off a curb or ….

In Birmingham, England, Capital FM Radio personality Laura Safe was texting a message to her boyfriend while on her way to a Birmingham shopping center. She was so engrossed in the text message that she didn't notice she was heading straight for an icy cold canal a few feet from the base of a stairway.

"Oh dear. I should really be called Laura UNsafe after the day I've had! Lol," tweeted Safe as quoted by the U.K.'s The Sun newspaper. "I thought ice on the canal was pavement because it looked dark in the corner of my eye."

A nearby business surveillance camera caught the entire ordeal as Safe can be seen walking down the stairs into the shopping center's plaza and then suddenly dropping into the chilly canal waters.

According to The Sun, a bystander called out to warn Safe that she was walking toward the frozen canal but it was too late. Businessman Neil Edginton was able to rescue Safe and pull her out of the water.

Edginton tells The Sun he "realized her focus was on her mobile phone and that she was going to walk straight into the water. I shouted to her to stop but it was too late. I dropped my phone and ran over to her. I had to lay down on the side with my arms in the water because she was submerged and pulled her out."

Although Safe did escape serious injury, she says she's learned her lesson.

"I'm a lot more cautious," said Safe in The Sun. "I don't text any more. I'm too scared."

The Sun reports Safe was able to thank her rescuer and good Samaritan, Edginton, during an on-air broadcast "for his heroic efforts."

When ABCNews.com reached out to Safe for comment, Capital FM Radio sent an email saying Safe was on a skiing vacation.

"We've sent her off with a lot of padding," said Gaynor Martin, the station's program administrator.