The Apple Watch is yet again being credited with helping keep someone connected during a potentially life-threatening situation. The BBC reports that a cyclist in England was rescued from a flooded river after contacting emergency services through his Apple Watch.
The story explains that the man was swept off of his bike into the swollen River Wye in Rotherwas, Hereford:
He was carried a mile downstream but managed to grab hold of a branch and spoke to fire control. 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.�
While holding on to the tree, the cyclist was able to use his Apple Watch to contact emergency authorities. Between the location provided by the Apple Watch and the help of passers-by, fire control crews were able to rescue and locate the Apple Watch:
Speaking to BBC Hereford and Worcester, Mr Bailey said the cyclist was spotted by passers-by who were able to give crews a sense of where he was.
“Even with that location it still took us 20 minutes to locate him and rescue him and bring him to safety.
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.�
Ultimately, the cyclist was rescued “about one mile from where he went into the river� despite the fact that he was “very quickly swept into the fast-flowing� part of the river.�
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. “Our guys are very well trained for this sort of event, but we can’t replicate those situations, the high river levels that you get when it’s in full flood.�
He said even strong swimmers would have struggled in the conditions. “He is a very lucky man to have been able to get hold of a branch and then spend probably 20 minutes in the water whilst he’s clinging onto that branch, we’re very surprised he didn’t lose his grip.�
This is yet another story of how a situation might have ended completely differently with the connectivity provided by Apple Watch. Just this past weekend, a story detailed how the Apple Watch was credited with helping police locate a kidnapped Texas woman.
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