The Apple Watch is once again being credited for helping to keep someone connected during a potentially life-threatening situation. O 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 taken by bicycle to the River Wye in Rotherwas, Hereford:
He was carried a mile down the river, but managed to grab a branch and spoke to fire control. Station commander Sean Bailey said he was “lucky” to keep control of the branch, adding: “We are very surprised that he has not lost control.”
While holding on to the tree, the cyclist was able to use his Apple Watch to contact the emergency authorities. Between the location provided by the Apple Watch and help from passers-by, fire control teams were able to rescue and locate the Apple Watch:
Speaking to BBC Hereford and Worcester, Bailey said the cyclist was spotted by passersby who were able to give teams an idea of where he was.
“Even with that location, it still took us 20 minutes to locate it, rescue it and bring it safely.
He was talking to our fire control while clinging to a tree, through his Apple watch, which worked wonderfully so that we could reach him as quickly as possible. “
Finally, the cyclist was rescued “about a mile from where he entered the river”, despite the fact that he was “taken very quickly to the fast flowing part” of the river. “
The man was rescued about a mile from where he entered the river, Bailey said, adding that he was “very quickly dragged into the fast-flowing part” of the river. “Our guys are very well trained for this type of event, but we cannot replicate these situations, the high levels of the river that you reach when it is full.”
He said that even strong swimmers would have fought in these conditions. “He is a very lucky man to have managed to hold on to a branch and then spend probably 20 minutes in the water while clinging to that branch, we are very surprised that he has not lost control.”
This is yet another story of how a situation could have ended completely differently with the connectivity provided by the Apple Watch. Last weekend, a story detailed how the Apple Watch was credited for helping police locate a kidnapped woman from Texas.
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