Authorities say it’s a wonder that two passengers were only minorly injured after their vehicle veered hundreds of feet off the road and into a ravine in California on Tuesday.
According to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. John Gilbert, a man and a woman in their early twenties plummeted roughly 300 feet when their vehicle swerved off the road into Monkey Canyon in Angeles National Forest, some 30 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.
The location is infamous for having bad telephone coverage, but the pair, who were in a Hyundai, were able to tell authorities where they were–using iPhone 14 SOS technology, which conveyed their latitude and longitude to rescuers, according to Gilbert, who also said they utilized two-way texting.
“It’s a miracle in several senses,” Gilbert said. “Nearly all of the vehicles that go over the side of the road in that particular area turn out to be fatalities. For them to survive the crash — is a miracle.
“The fact they had a piece of technology that survived the crash and it worked as advertised and got rescue to them in a timely manner is another miracle.”
Apple claims that the iPhone 14 can alert emergency authorities through satellite when there is no cellular or Wi-Fi access. After a device is activated, the service is free for two years.
Gilbert claimed that if it hadn’t been for smartphone technology, the two might have died of hypothermia because temperatures were forecast to dip into the 30s overnight.
“It could have been very likely they would have to spend a cold, wet night,”Gilbert remarked.
The couple were lifted onto a rescue helicopter. They sustained minor injuries, according to Gilbert, and were sent to a hospital for examination.
The Special Enforcement Bureau of the sheriff’s department released dramatic video and photographs of the rescue.
Gilbert described the rescue helicopter teams as “truly amazing people.”
They primarily work as paramedics with the department’s SWAT squad, but they also search for people who are lost, stranded, or injured in remote places, according to Gilbert.
