Hyundai, iPhone save a couple falling from high canyon

The story of a couple who fell into a ravine 100 meters below while driving was saved thanks to a Hyundai Elantra and an iPhone 14 and became a hot topic. On Tuesday (local time), The Washington Post reported the story of Chloe Fields and Christian Gelada, a couple who recently had an accident while traveling in Los Angeles, California in a mid-size Hyundai car.

The two were driving through the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles County when their vehicle skidded on gravel and fell 91 meters down a canyon. The Elantra N that they were driving was smashed beyond recognition. Thankfully, the couple was not seriously injured.

They got out of the car and found their mobile phones to call for help. Despite no cell service in the steep canyon, Fields' iPhone 14 — which she found about 10 feet from the wreck — had already used new technology to automatically detect the crash and make an SOS call via satellite to an Apple emergency relay center, which quickly alerted officials of the accident and its location.

While awaiting their rescue, Fields could text details of their location to a nearby rescue team and finally got out of the canyon with a helicopter. “Hyundai Elantra is excellent,” Fields twittered. “We survived after falling 300 feet down.”


Min Kim kimmin@donga.com