This week in Far North Queensland, Australia, a group of friends and one of their babies were driving to see a waterfall when they got stuck between two streams. They tried to cross one of the streams, but the water turned off the car’s engine and there was no cell phone signal to call for help. After spending the night in the rain, one of the individuals had the brilliant idea of connecting his cell phone to a drone and sending it airborne in the hope that his SOS message would be transmitted. It worked! The emergency services sent an excavator and a team with chainsaws to rescue them. From ABC Far North:
“He was smart enough to think that if he typed the message on his phone and hit send, he would keep trying to send until it was received,” [State Emergency Service area controller James] Said Gegg.
“When he brought [the drone] back, he confirmed that the message had been sent, so he got reception … this set off the alarm and people were able to activate.
image: Queensland Police Service