A man was driving at night along a highway in Florida when he lost control of his car after avoiding an animal in the roadway. The vehicle overturned in a nearby canal and he was trapped. His iPhone saved him, an official said Thursday.
Martin County (East) deputies received a call Tuesday night with an automated message, said the chief deputy of the local sheriff’s office, John Budensiek.
“The owner of this iPhone suffered a serious car accident and is not responding to the phone. The emergency location is latitude 27.1195, longitude – 80.481, with an estimated search radius of seven meters,” the looping message stated.
When they went to the indicated location, near the rural town of Indiantown, officers found the vehicle overturned in the water and its driver, a 38-year-old man, pinned down and showing signs of hypothermia.
Thanks to Apple technology
The life-saving call came from a new technology in their cell phone, a iPhone 14. The latest Apple model is capable of detecting traffic accidents and sending an audio message to the emergency services with the coordinates of the accident, if the owner does not cancel this function within 20 seconds.
“That man was alone, his car was submerged,” Officer Budensiek recounted, “And if that phone hadn’t made that call for him, there’s a good chance he wouldn’t have been located until dawn, five hours later.”
“Things would have happened to him without that call,” added the chief deputy sheriff, who reminded that hypothermia can be fatal.
“And we’re in southern Floridaso there are animals in those canals: there are alligators, snakes and different things that can also be a danger in addition to what was already going on,” he said.
The agents managed to get the driver out of the vehicle, who was taken to a hospital, where he received care for minor injuries. (AFP)
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