Couple Survives Car Accident and Falls, Rescued Using iPhone
Smartphones take a lot of flak for everything from technology addiction to cyberbullying to the spread of misinformation. but for one California couple, your iPhone was literally a lifesaver.
Cloe Fields and Christian Zelada were driving through the Angeles National Forest near Monkey Canyon when an impatient driver pulled up behind them. Trying to let the driver pass, Zelada tried to stop. Instead, he lost control of the vehicle, which skidded off the edge of the road and fell about 300 feet, flipping over and striking trees as it went.
Miraculously, the couple survived the accident with minor injuries.
“We just had bruises on our faces, cuts and a little pain in our necks, and now a mild concussion,” Fields said in an interview with The New York Times. New York Times.
Even after the initial clash, Fields and Zelada were barely safe. The couple found themselves miles from civilization with injuries, no cell service and temperatures rapidly approaching freezing. But Fields’ iPhone 14 was already working on a plan.
Using technology that debuted just a month ago, the phone had already figured out that there was an accident and that emergency services needed to be alerted. Despite its screen shattering in the accident, the iPhone instructed Fields on how to contact first responders via Apple’s emergency SOS via satellite.
according to an apple Press release Announcing the service’s introduction in November, the “technology enables users to send messages to emergency services while outside of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage.”
Apple’s Emergency SOS team was able to contact local authorities and provide them with the location of Fields and Zelada. A helicopter was dispatched to rescue the couple within 30 minutes of the incident. according to to the Los Angeles Times.
Calling the survival of Fields and Zelada a “miracle in itself”, Sgt. John Gilbert of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Montrose Search and Rescue Team told the Los Angeles Times that the accident was the first in the area that he could remember that did not result in a fatality.
Satellite phones have been around for years, allowing users to call or text from remote locations, but only recently have iPhones taken advantage of the technology to connect via satellite.
“Providing emergency SOS via satellite is an important advance that will save lives. The critical work Apple is doing to create innovative new solutions to help 911 providers and first responders is a huge step forward in protecting Californians and the general public during an emergency situation,” said Mark Ghilarducci, CEO from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services. , in Apple’s press release.
Fields and Zelada would certainly agree.
“Your technology in this case was extremely helpful,” Gilbert told the Los Angeles Timesadding that the crashed vehicle was not visible from the nearby road.
Counting her blessings, Zelada reminded the New York Times what he had told Fields after the accident: “We were one in 100 million leaving with our lives and limbs.”