From time to time, survival stories emerge that leave the world speechless. And so it has happened in Lane County, in the state of Oregon when a man stranded on a remote snow-covered road in the Willamette National Forest has saved his life thanks to a mobile phone attached to a drone. The technology associated with ingenuity has no limits.
After getting stuck with no signal on his smartphone, the man had to quickly come up with a plan. And he hatched an original and daring plan: save himself from death by sending a drone to ask for help. And certainly the ingenious idea managed to get the attention of rescuers.
The Lane County rescue team has written on its Facebook account: “A motorist had attempted to cross a remote road in the US Forest Service that is not in condition for winter travel,” adding that the vehicle was left stuck in the snow, no service to call for help, as cell reception tends to be reserved in the area.
According to the statement, the family of the affected man was out of the country, so they did not know where he had gone or if he was in danger and needed help. Fortunately, his creativity and skill made the man devise a perfect plan that would end up saving his life.
The first good decision the subject made was to stay in his vehicle, since according to the rescue team “rarely does anyone in Oregon die from exposure to the elements waiting in their vehicle to be found and rescued.” Secondly, ingenuity was his greatest ally: having a drone with him, he decided to connect it to his mobile phone, in which he wrote a message describing his exact situation and location.
After launching the drone, the phone managed to connect to a nearby tower, sending the message it had previously written to a trusted contact, who was able to alert rescue teams in the area. The plan not only saved his own life. Additionally, the drone was able to assist another stranded motorist who was found nearby after being stuck in the snow for several days.
Although the professional rescue teams have been “happy with the result”, they have taken advantage of the situation to launch a series of security measures, among which stand out: discard those paths without adequate maintenance in the face of snow, and always notify to a close person about the destination we are traveling to.