Apple Emergency SOS Via Satellite Feature Helps Rescue Stranded Women In Canada's Wilderness: Report

For the first time in Canada, the Apple Emergency SOS via satellite feature helped in successfully rescuing two women who were stranded in the wilderness near McBride.

According to a report by the Times Colonist, the two women were returning from a trip to Alberta, Canada when they encountered a highway closure. After checking Google Maps for an alternate route, they decided to take a detour through the Holmes Forest Service Road.

After traveling nearly 20 kilometers on the route, the women encountered a dead-end, as the plowed road ended, and reportedly, they got stuck in thick snow with no cellular reception or means to go back.

Luckily, one of the women had an iPhone 14—with the Emergency SOS via satellite feature, and called for help—activating the feature.

RCMP and Robson Valley Search and Rescue used GPS location to speculate where the women may have gone up the logging road, and planned the rescue operation.

“They found them, pulled their vehicle out and got them turned around and back on the way,” said Dwight Yochim, senior manager, BC Search and Rescue. “It’s the kind of thing that it potentially may have saved their life,” he added. 

Further, he claimed that if they hadn’t had the Apple 14 handy, “what would have happened is eventually the family or their work would have said ‘hey, they didn’t show up’ and so the search area would have been from wherever they were last seen to where they were supposed to be, and that could have been several hundred kilometers.”

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