Motorists in crime-ridden Caracas seek safety through ‘Buddy’ app

An employee of Pana, a mobile application which dispatches security crews to stranded drivers who request help, assists Vanessa Mikuski to get off a towing truck in Caracas, Venezuela June 15, 2018. Picture taken June 15, 2018. REUTERS/Adriana Loureiro

CARACAS: Two men on motor-bikes approached a broken-down vehicle in Caracas one day earlier this month in what could have been a nightmare scenario in one of the world's most dangerous cities where roadside robberies and murders are an everyday occurrence.

The men took up positions either side of the green four-wheel-drive vehicle, with a 33-year-old female schoolteacher behind the wheel, and guarded it until a tow truck arrived two hours later to cart it off to a garage.