An injured man hiking in Strathcona Park on Vancouver Island in B.C. was rescued after his iPhone automatically sent out a distress call on Sunday.
The 41-year-old man, who had fallen and injured his leg above Century Sam Lake, also used Apple’s iPhone Emergency SOS via satellite feature to call 911, according to Comox Valley Search and Rescue search manager Paul Berry, reports the Times Colonist.
Comox Valley Search and Rescue Team members arrived at the location via RCMP and private helicopters, along with medical equipment, to retrieve the hiker from a slippery ledge and fly him to safety.
“The man was in a fairly isolated location with quite slippery conditions and took a significant tumble,” Berry stated.
The hiker was lightly dressed alone, with minimal survival gear other than his iPhone. He had been hiking through snow for much of the day but not during his fall. Unable to move due to his injury, the man was cold, wet, and in significant pain. Crikey.
B.C. Emergency Health Services received the distress notification through the phone’s emergency relay center. As air teams were flown in, ground search and rescue teams moved towards the site using logging roads and utility task vehicles but were recalled before reaching the location.
The rescue team navigated a single-track trail to reach the hiker, using a rope system to move him off the ledge. “It was narrow enough that it was difficult to transit with the stretcher with two people alongside and quite slippery conditions,” Berry noted. The slope below the ledge was at 40 to 50 degrees.
The hiker was carried about 200 metres to a waiting helicopter, transporting him to the Courtenay Air Park, where paramedics provided emergency care and transported him by ambulance to a hospital, said B.C. Emergency Health Services spokesperson Rachelle Bown.
It was likely that the hiker had an Apple Watch SE or Series 4 or newer, as these models have Fall Detection, and when paired to an iPhone, use the latter’s signal to send alerts to rescue services. An iPhone does not have fall detection on its own.
In a similar incident in January, an iPhone’s emergency alert system helped rescue two men whose vehicle went down a steep embankment south of Nanoose. Apple’s Emergency SOS and Crash Detection sent coordinates of the accident scene, enabling searchers to arrive within an hour.
Emergency SOS via satellite connects users to emergency services when no other means are available. If cellular and Wi-Fi coverage is unavailable, the iPhone attempts to connect via satellite, requiring a clear view of the sky and horizon. This service is free for two years after the activation of an iPhone 14 or later models.
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