‘Hey Siri, call 911’: Teen’s life saved by phone assistant
A teenager whose car was sinking into freezing water was saved when he asked Siri to call 911.
Gael Salcedo, 18, from Iowa, hit a patch of ice and lost control of his car on Tuesday at around 7.30am local time.
He told US news service KIMT3 he thought he was going to die as he was unable to find his phone to call for help – but then had the presence of mind to use his phone’s voice assistant to call for help.
He said: “I turned to the right and everything just went blurry, I didn’t know where I was going.
“I didn’t know what to do, I was just thinking in my head, ‘I think I’m going to die’.
“I lost my phone and since I couldn’t find it I was like, ‘Hey Siri, call 911’ and once Siri called that’s when I found my phone finally.”
Firefighters arrived and found Mr Salcedo in his jeep sinking into the icy Winnebago River.
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The force of the water prevented the door on the driver’s side from opening but the emergency services were able to guide him out to safety.
Mason City Fire Department’s Lieutenant Craig Warner said he told Mr Salcedo, “You’re going to have to walk out, I’ll be right there with you holding on every step of the way.”
By this point the teen’s hands were freezing and he had lost the feeling in his legs, telling KIMT3: “I was struggling a lot and the water was just so strong, so I kept tripping and I had the guy help me up a bunch of times and I used all my strength to get out of the water.”
Mr Salcedo thanked those who helped him and was treated for shock at a local hospital.
