Rival dailies scooped separate exclusives with a couple who found themselves caught up in a failed military coup after their blind date went wrong.

Twenty-year-old Nicole Graham and Phil Stephenson, 22, flew to Turkey together despite having never met before, after the pair connected on internet dating app Tinder.

However, the pair landed in the Turkish resort of Marmaris on Friday just hours before an attempted coup to overthrow the country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was launched.

To make matters worse, the newly-formed couple, pictured below, decided they didn’t much care for each other’s company either – despite being left stranded together in their hotel after flights to and from the UK were cancelled.

But two daily newspapers from the duo’s native North-East of England managed to get each party’s version of events independently after they reached out online in a bid to find people from their patches affected by the coup attempt, which claimed the lives of at least 265 people.

Joanna Morris, a reporter at the Darlington-based Northern Echo, was able to contact Mr Stephenson, who is also from the town, through Facebook after seeing tweets from his friend which mentioned his adventure.

Meanwhile, South Shields native Ms Graham spoke to the Shields Gazette after digital editor Ross Robertson sent out an appeal on social media urging readers affected by the coup to get in touch.

The mismatched couple’s stories have since gone viral on the internet.

Said Joanna: “In terms of the impact it’s had online, it just goes to show how you can never really predict what will work and what will take off.

“I think it’s about somehow posting the right thing in the right place at the right time and in this instance, it ended up on the front page of Reddit – I think that definitely helped.

“I can’t take any responsibility for it going viral – it’s just about the right person or place picking it up and you can’t plan for that or replicate it at will. It’s a quirky story and it’s definitely been interesting watching it spread.

“I understand its appeal but it really didn’t take much time or effort and it’d be much more satisfying to see something I’d really worked on get half the attention this story did.”

Speaking to the Echo, Mr Stephenson said he just wanted “a bit of banter” rather than the romantic getaway he believes Ms Graham had planned in her mind.

But his reluctant partner told the Gazette he was “very serious, and always on his phone”.

Gavin Foster, the Gazette’s managing editor, said: “This was a fantastic example of how an impact an international crisis can impact on a local level.

“And an example of the value of local newspapers in digging up and delivering quality news which then becomes national headlines. It was clearly an unusual, lighter take on what was a desperate situation for some. But as always, we respond to our readers when they seek to contact us.