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One California couple is lucky to be alive after a horrific car crash in which they fell 300 feet into a canyon — and were saved with the help of a new iPhone feature.
Yet as lucky as they were, they're not the only ones to have been rescued recently with an assist from a cellphone.
Cloe Fields, 23, and her boyfriend Christian Zelada, 24, were taking a drive on the Angeles Crest Highway through the Angeles National Forest in southern California on Dec. 13 when a car began tailgating them.
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When Zelada pulled over to let the car pass, the car lost traction — and fell off the road into Monkey Canyon.
Miraculously, while their car was completely destroyed, both Fields and Zelada were relatively OK.
The couple found Fields' new iPhone 14, which was shattered but still working.
Cloe Fields and Christian Zelada were rescued about half an hour after their car plummeted 300 feet into a canyon. Fields' new iPhone automatically contacted emergency services. (LASD SEB)
Unbeknownst to Fields, her phone had a new feature that would prove crucial. It had "crash detection" and Emergency SOS.
"If your iPhone or Apple Watch detects a severe car crash, your device can help connect you to emergency services," the Apple website says.
"Crash Detection is designed to detect severe car crashes — such as front-impact, side-impact, and rear-end collisions, and rollovers — involving sedans, minivans, SUVs, pickup trucks and other passenger cars. When a severe car crash is detected, your iPhone or Apple Watch sounds an alarm and displays an alert."
Although there was no cell service in the canyon, Fields' iPhone was able to use satellites to alert emergency services.
Although there was no cell service in the canyon, Fields' iPhone was able to use satellites to alert emergency services about the crash.
By the time Fields found her phone, emergency services had already been notified.
Videos of their rescue were shared later that afternoon by the Montrose Search & Rescue Team's official Twitter account.
"This afternoon at approximately 1:55 p.m., [the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Dept.] received a call from the Apple emergency satellite service," said the Montrose Search & Rescue Team on Twitter.
"The informant and another victim had been involved in a single vehicle accident on Angeles Forest Hwy near mile marker 18.87, Angeles Forest."
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The message went on, "Their vehicle had gone off the side of the mountain, approximately 300'. They were in a remote canyon with no cellular phone service. The victims were able to extricate themselves from the car. Using the emergency satellite service on their iPhone 14, they were able to communicate to a relay center via text."
The relay center was able to provide the sheriff's office with "an accurate latitude and longitude for the victims" — and the Montrose Search & Rescue Team was then dispatched to try to find Fields and Zelada.
"Air Rescue 5 was able to locate the victims and insert a paramedic. The paramedic learned the patients, a male and female in their 20s, had mild to moderate injuries," said the tweet.
"The helicopter was able to hoist the victims out of the canyon and transport them to a local area hospital."
Both Fields and Zelada were released from the hospital the same evening of their crash.
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Fields replied to the Montrose Search & Rescue Team's thread, saying she was "honestly grateful for you guys and everyone."
"Thank God for my phone obsession," she tweeted. "We are OK! Thank you all!"
The winding road over Monkey Canyon in Angeles National Forecast was nearly the site of tragedy for a young couple from California. (LASD SEB)
Fields noted, by the way, that her boyfriend was not using the phone while he was driving.
Fields credited Hyundai for saving her life.
She tweeted pictures of the smashed Elantra N, saying, "The Elantra N is a great car. I survived a 300 ft fall."
Apple launched Emergency SOS to iPhone 14 users in the United States in mid-November.
The service makes it possible to message emergency services via satellite while outside the range of cellular and Wi-Fi coverage.
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After a crash is detected, a user has 20 seconds to say whether help is needed.
If a person does not answer, emergency services are atomically contacted.
After a crash is detected, a user has 20 seconds to say whether help is needed.
The Emergency SOS interface includes a questionnaire to determine what is wrong before messaging emergency services.
Apple's "Emergency SOS" feature is credited with helping to save the lives of two people in California in December 2022. (Apple)
After the questionnaire, the user is told where to point the phone and send the initial message, including the questionnaire responses, location, altitude and other information to emergency services.
This is not the first time, however, that lives have been saved this way.
Crashed his car into a pole
In October, an Indianapolis man named Nolan Abell crashed his car into a pole.
He was drifting in and out of consciousness when he felt his brand new Apple Watch Series 8 tapping on his wrist, reported the website 9to5mac.
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Abell's Apple Watch was contacting emergency services for him.
He was rescued in about five minutes.
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"If it weren’t for this watch, who knows how long it would have been for help to get to me," Nolan told ABC News at the time.
"Someone would have found me eventually, but this had EMS to me in five minutes."
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