Find My iPhone leads to car crash rescue in California

(SAN BERNARDINO, Calif.) — A California woman was saved after her car crashed off a 200-foot cliff on Christmas Day thanks in part to her iPhone’s location tracking feature, the San Bernardino County Fire Department said.

The woman likely crashed her vehicle driving home from a family gathering overnight on Christmas Day, according to a press release from the fire department. Family members grew concerned when they didn’t hear from her on the morning of Dec. 26, so used her phone’s tracking functionality to see it was located off the side of a California highway, the release said.

Apple products are sold with software called Find My, which can be used to track Apple products or other people’s products with their consent.

After locating the woman on the app, the family called 911 to report an accident, which prompted firefighters to find the car off California Highway 18. The fire department said the vehicle was 200 feet below the roadway on its side, and they began staging a rescue around roughly 7 a.m.

Firefighter-paramedic crews located one female adult in the car with serious injuries. Photos provided by the fire department show paramedics attending to the severely injured woman, whose body was resting through the front windshield of the mangled car.

Firefighters used specialized urban search and rescue equipment including a rope system and capstan raising system to haul both the injured woman and the firefighter-paramedics to the road, the department said.

The section of California Highway 18 where the car and woman were found is north of San Bernardino and does have metal guardrails.

The woman was transported to a local trauma center after being loaded into an ambulance.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.