In yet another incident of coming to someone’s rescue, the Apple Watch has been credited by a skating teacher in the US who fell through ice while gliding across a frozen expanse of water, as per a report by 9to5Mac, based on the local TV channel WMUR’s report.
William Rogers, a seasoned skater, was skating on the frozen surface of the Salmon Falls River in Somersworth, US, when he suddenly found himself submerged in the icy waters. It could have been a weak spot in the icy expanse, incorrectly judged by him to be safe to skate on. Rogers clung to the ice, tried to “walrus up the ice” and tried to climb up.
“First thing I did was try to walrus up on the ice knowing that I needed to get out of the water as quickly as possible and the ice just kept breaking underneath me.”, the report quotes him as saying.
“I remember telling myself, ‘OK, don’t panic. Don’t panic. Figure out what your options are here.”, he said.
After struggling for some minutes in the ice-cold water, Rogers found that it was not possible for him to climb up through the hole and soon, hypothermia began to set in. If he reached out for his phone, he would lose his grip. Moreover, he figured he had about 10 minutes before severe cold made his body temperature drop below normal, freezing him.
Luckily, it dawned on him that he was wearing his Apple Watch and the gadget might just do the trick and help him call someone directly without touching his phone. He called emergency services directly from the Apple Watch and was reportedly rescued by firefighters after five minutes.
The Emergency SOS feature of the Apple Watch helps automatically ring the local emergency services up through Siri or when the Watch detects a fall.