Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite feature has been available for some time. This feature, which has resulted in numerous survival stories, is almost a game changer. A recent case confirms this, as two women who went missing in Canada were found with the help of the Emergency SOS via satellite feature. Here are the details…
iPhone 14’s Emergency SOS via satellite feature saved two women in Canada
Recently, it was reported that two women were traveling home after visiting Alberta when they became lost near McBride, a small village in British Columbia, Canada. Unfortunately, while trying to find their way back, they had a car accident and became stranded in an area with no cell phone reception.
They made it around 20 kilometers down the road before hitting a “wall of snow,” indicating where the plow had stopped, and getting stuck. The two women were in a rather desperate situation. Fortunately one of the women had an iPhone 14 and thought to use the new Emergency SOS via satellite feature. Using the iPhone 14, they were able to send a message and their location to an Apple call center.
From there, the Apple call center contacted the “Northern911” call center in Canada, which then activated a call to emergency service. Rescue teams pulled the vehicle out of the snow and helped it get turned around and headed back toward the highway. Dwight Yochim, a senior manager with British Columbia Search and Rescue, said he believes this is the “first use” of the new feature in British Columbia.
“There’s no cell service there but one of them happened to have the new Apple phone that has the SOS in it and activated the SOS and to my knowledge, that’s the first use of the SOS in British Columbia. If they didn’t have this, what would have happened is eventually the family or their work would have said “hey, they didn’t show up” and so the search area would have been from wherever they were last seen to where they’re supposed to be, and that could have been several hundred kilometres.”
For context, Yochim estimates that his team does around 1,700 to 1,800 searches a year. Emergency SOS via satellite on the iPhone 14 can significantly cut down on the number.
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(via)
