iPhone 14's SOS feature leads to rescue after car plunges 300 feet in CA national forest

MONKEY CANYON, Calif. -- A man and woman used an iPhone 14's emergency SOS feature and were rescued Tuesday after their car plunged some 300 feet into a canyon in the Angeles National Forest, authorities said.

Shortly before, 2 p.m., the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Crescenta Valley station received a notification from an iPhone 14 via satellite service, the agency said. The victims, both in their 20s, had been involved in a single-vehicle crash near mile marker 18.87 in Monkey Canyon, where their car went "off the side of the mountain," according to the Montrose Search and Rescue Team.

"They were in a remote canyon with no cellular phone service" and were able to extricate themselves from the vehicle, the team said in a statement.

Using the emergency satellite service on their iPhone 14, the victims were able to communicate to a relay center via text, authorities said. The center contacted the station, which dispatched the Search and Rescue Team, L.A. County firefighters, sheriff's patrol units and a helicopter.

A woman was safely rescued from the Cucamonga wash in Ontario Sunday morning as Southern California continues to see heavy rainfall in parts of the region.

After the call center provided the latitude and longitude of the victims' location, the rescue helicopter was able to find them and lower a paramedic via cable. The man and woman had suffered mild to moderate injuries in the crash, which left their vehicle overturned at the bottom of the canyon.

Video provided by the Sheriff's Department shows the victims being hoisted into the helicopter. They were then transported to a hospital, authorities said.

The cause of the crash was unknown.