Apple's Siri has saved a life again, and 'Siri, call 911' is trending. A young man whose car fell into freezing waters called out to Siri in panic and what happened next was surreal. Gael Salcedo, 18, was on his way to attend classes at the North Iowa Area Community College when his car hit a patch of ice on the road. Losing control of his car, Salcedo soon got himself stuck in the icy Winnebago river.
What happened?
"I turned to the right and from there, everything just went blurry. I didn't know where I was going and then I just didn't know what to do. I was just thinking in my head 'I think I'm going to die'," he said, CNN reported. Once he realized he was stuck in river, Salcedo rolled down his car's window, worrying that it would sink. Having lost his phone, he called out for Siri. "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", he said.
The rescue
Firefighters from Mason City Fire Department arrived at the scene and approached the water-logged Jeep from the passenger side, because the river current was pinning the driver's side door shut. With no other way to get out, the Lieutenant Craig Warner with the Mason City Fire Department told Salcedo to walk out.
"[I] basically explained to him that there's no other way. You're going to have to walk out. I'll be right there with you holding on every step of the way", the Lieutenant said.
Salcedo described his difficult walk out of the icy river. "My hands were freezing. I couldn't feel my legs anymore, so I was struggling a lot and the water was just so strong", he said. "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".
After the rescue, Salcedo was taken to a hospital, where he was treated for shock and was released a few hours later.
