# What to do if you can't contact someone abroad and suspect they may have been in an accident? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 2, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-if-you-cant-contact-someone-abroad-and-suspect-they-may-have-been-in-an-accident/703372 "2014-11-02T16:49:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wonderland1990](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed655f/32.png) [@wonderland1990](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderland1990)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-if-you-cant-contact-someone-abroad-and-suspect-they-may-have-been-in-an-accident/703372/1 "2014-11-02T16:49:30Z")
So my boyfriend lives in Berlin and I live in London, I tried to call him at 10am this morning and haven’t heard from him since then, it’s now about 5pm. He’s not great with his phone but this is unusual and I’m quite concerned. I know he was planning to do DIY stuff in his flat today and I’m worried he might have had an accident. I don’t want to do anything yet but if I’ve not heard from him by tomorrow morning who do I contact? As he lives in a different country it’s more difficult and I don’t know who I should call… ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-if-you-cant-contact-someone-abroad-and-suspect-they-may-have-been-in-an-accident/703372/2 "2014-11-02T17:25:50Z")
Call the local police and ask if they will knock on his door; ask them also if there’s any way to find out if he was admitted to a local hospital. Call his country’s embassy or consulate in Berlin to see if they can offer assistance–they are supposed to look out for their nationals. The police may also be able to tell you if he was arrested–through some mistake of course :). Good luck and I hope all turns out well. ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-if-you-cant-contact-someone-abroad-and-suspect-they-may-have-been-in-an-accident/703372/3 "2014-11-02T17:31:38Z")
Also, tomorrow is Monday and I assume a work day for him–If you’re going to wait until tomorrow to look into this, start by calling his office at a time he’s usually in and ask to speak to him. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-if-you-cant-contact-someone-abroad-and-suspect-they-may-have-been-in-an-accident/703372/4 "2014-11-02T18:21:09Z")
Does he have any Berlin friends you could contact? ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-if-you-cant-contact-someone-abroad-and-suspect-they-may-have-been-in-an-accident/703372/5 "2014-11-02T19:36:43Z")
Was he planning on doing dangerous DIY stuff like working on the roof where he may have gotten injured? Or just normal DIY stuff like painting and whatnot? I would think it’s much too early to start worrying. There are many more reasonable reasons why he hasn’t talked to you today. Maybe he dropped his phone in a can of paint. Can you tell if he’s been on facebook or any other social media. I think if you start having the police check up on him after 7 hours you will come off as a bit overbearing. Please don’t take offense at this, but is he an internet-only boyfriend or have you actually spent time together? ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-if-you-cant-contact-someone-abroad-and-suspect-they-may-have-been-in-an-accident/703372/6 "2014-11-02T21:14:27Z")
> [@TSBG](#): > > The police may also be able to tell you if he was arrested–through some mistake of course :). “Vee don’t make mistakes, chust happy little accidents!” ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-if-you-cant-contact-someone-abroad-and-suspect-they-may-have-been-in-an-accident/703372/7 "2014-11-02T22:44:07Z")
The OP says they’ll do nothing until Monday, and if he can’t be reached easily by then (at work or on a cell) it will have been 24 hours–a reasonable amount of incommunicado time to make other inquiries. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-if-you-cant-contact-someone-abroad-and-suspect-they-may-have-been-in-an-accident/703372/8 "2014-11-03T02:36:08Z")
Contact your boyfriend’s family. I think police would take much more seriously a request from someone’s mother than they would a girlfriend (boyfriend/girlfriend conflicts being quite common).