As of: March 6, 2024, 5:36 p.m
By: Nico Reiter
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Necessity is the mother of invention – A university lecturer was locked in the bathroom and freed herself using the items at her disposal.
Cambridge-Dr.
Krisztina Ilko is a lecturer at Queens College, Cambridge.
She conducts her research in the field of art history.
The famous philosopher Erasmus lived in the university rooms before the scientist.
The buildings date back to 1448, as the university describes on its website.
Ilko also lives in a tower that was built in the Middle Ages.
That's exactly where she was locked in the bathroom at the end of February.
Queens College consists of buildings that date back to 1448 © Alistair Laming/Imago
Locked in the bathroom - first attempts to escape fail
A plumber had damaged the door latch.
The heavy wooden door could no longer be opened.
Ilko was trapped in the room with no windows, surrounded by stone walls.
She told BBC
News
in an interview that she was afraid of being trapped for days.
Someone wouldn't come by to clean the room for another five days.
“I tried to hit the door with the shower head, break it open and call for help, but no one heard me,” says the 33-year-old.
She still has bruises from her attempts to escape.
Eyeliner and cotton swabs to pick locks
Even though her department wasn't much help, her wits ultimately saved her from her situation.
Ilko took her childhood hero MacGyver, an inventive secret agent, as an example.
She looked around the room for things that could help her escape and found them.
She pushed the latch down with eyeliner.
She made a hook out of a cotton swab with which she was finally able to open the lock.
After seven hours of captivity, Dr Ilko finally managed to leave the room.
“When I finally got out and the door opened, I was in a frenzy because I never thought it would work,” said the lecturer in the interview.
“I was expecting to be in there for five days or more, but I made it out!” Just recently, a man was locked up at the airport for two hours.
But a passenger was also stuck in the airplane toilet on the plane itself.
Their escape thrilled the internet
After her escape, she shares a photo of herself and her tools on X, formerly Twitter.
The community is enthusiastic about their idea.
“You should audition for the next MacGyver reboot,” said one user.
“Note to self: Always have eyeliner and an ear swab with you,” says another user.
And another person realized something: “I will never question again when women say they cannot survive without eyeliner.” Perhaps Stiftung Warentest should test another function of eye makeup in the future.
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Dr.
Thanks to her talent in picking locks, Krisztina Ilko is now a minor celebrity at her university and is happy about the congratulations.
The lock has now been removed so as not to put anyone in the same situation.
(No)