Arrowsmith Search and Rescue (ASAR) personnel were called to Thursday night (Jan. 18) to help rescue a pair of people after a crash on a logging road in Nanoose Bay.
Those involved in the crash were grateful for an iPhone crash alert, a cellphone feature, as it sent a distress signal of the incident to emergency units in the region. The signal indicated the location and also battery level of the device.
Attempts were made to call the phone but were unsuccessful. ASAR teams were set up at Northwest Bay Logging Road and dispatched 4X4 vehicles with chains and UTV with tracks.
The RCMP launched one of their drones with heat sensors to the location indicated and found a heat source that appeared to be a vehicle.
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There was deep snow and freezing temperatures but the ASAR teams were able to reach the location to find two individuals with a four-wheel drive vehicle that had slid off the road and rolled on its side. Both were cold and brought out of the area and handed off to BC Emergency Health Services for assessment and treament for their injuries.
The location of the accident has no cell coverage and the people in the crash were unaware that their phone had sent a distress signal via satellite.
The ASAR indicated had the phone not done that, a large-scale search would have been launched.
– NEWS Staff
