iPhone's SOS Feature Helps Save 2 People After Car Falls 300 Feet Into Canyon

A man and a woman were rescued after their car crashed 300 feet into a canyon in California's Angeles National Forest, thanks to their iPhone 14's SOS feature.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Crescenta Valley station received a notification from an iPhone 14 via satellite service at around 2 p.m. Tuesday. A car crashed near mile marker 18.87 in Monkey Canyon and went off the side of the mountain. The two occupants of the car, both in their 20s, managed to find their way out of the vehicle and contact an emergency relay center using the SOS satellite feature on their iPhone, according to ABC13.

After receiving the notification, Sheriff's officials contacted patrol units, rescue teams, and firefighters. A helicopter was dispatched to rescue the two individuals, whose identities have not been provided by the authorities.

The relay center provided the latitude and longitude of the location of the victims to the rescue team. Officially eventually located the individuals and lowered a paramedic via cable to rescue them, KTLA reported.

Authorities were able to rescue the two individuals, who suffered non-threatening injuries in the incident, authorities said. Their vehicle was found overturned at the bottom of the canyon.

"They were in a remote canyon with no cellular phone service," the rescue team said in a series of tweets.

"The helicopter was able to hoist the victims out of the canyon and transport them to a local area hospital," the rescue team added in another tweet.

Sgt. John Gilbert, of the Sheriff's Department's Montrose Search and Rescue Team, called it a "miracle in itself" that the two individuals survived the crash and were able to call for help.

"Not only is it a big fall distance-wise, but that particular canyon is extremely steep," Gilbert said, according to LA Times.

While the identities of the two victims were not released by the authorities, Cloe Fields, who was reportedly one of the individuals rescued, responded to a tweet posted by the officials. In the tweet Friday, Fields thanked the rescue team for saving the duo and revealed she had recently upgraded her phone to the iPhone 14.

"This was me. Honestly grateful for you guys and everyone. Thank god for my phone obsession to be in handy and just switching [to] the phone 14 recently with Verizon," she tweeted.

The new iPhone and Apple Watch have the feature to detect a "severe car crash or a fall," according to the company's website. Users can also enable their devices to send a notification to emergency services via satellite.