A UK cyclist was swept off his bike into the swollen River Wye in Rotherwas, Hereford, on Thursday. He was carried a mile downstream, but managed to grab hold of a branch and speak to fire control using his Apple Watch.
When you make a call with SOS, your iPhone will call the local emergency number automatically. In some countries and regions, you may need to choose the service that you need. You can also add emergency contacts. After an emergency call has finished, your iPhone can alert your emergency contacts with a text message, unless you choose to cancel this option. Your iPhone sends them your current location, and, for a period of time when you have entered SOS mode, it sends updates to your emergency contacts when your location changes.
Station commander Sean Bailey said he was “lucky” to have kept hold of the branch, adding: “We’re very surprised he didn’t lose his grip.”
“He was speaking to our fire control whilst he was clinging onto a tree, via his Apple Watch, which worked wonderfully well for us to actually get to him as quickly as possible.”
The man was rescued about one mile from where he went into the river, Mr Bailey said, adding he was “very quickly swept into the fast-flowing” part of the river… “It’s one of those things where your natural instincts, adrenaline, kicks in in order to be rescued.”
MacDailyNews Take: This lucky cyclist is yet another life saved, thanks to Apple Watch!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Alan Watson Featherstone” for the heads up.]