SMS sparks vigil for hostages

Candles have been placed in the windows of thousands of homes throughout Italy in response to a text message calling on people to remember the hundreds of children killed in the Russian hostage drama, reports News.24.

"The spontaneous gesture came after people began receiving an SMS which read: "light a candle at a window tonight for all the children killed in Ossetia: pass the message on," Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported on Sunday.

The message snowballed, spreading from mobile phone to mobile phone, until hundreds of thousands of calls had been sent, according to consumer organisation Telefono blu.

The initial text message was sent by Allesandra Servadori, a teacher in the northern city of Bologna, who contacted her friends, telling them: "this could have been our children", the paper reported.

The initiative was subsequently picked up by the politicians."

emily | 4:54 PM | |
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