iPhone’s Siri saves US teen's life

Teenager accidentally activated Siri and repeatedly told it to cal 911

Siri, the digital assistant feature on Apple's iPhone, may be a nuisance on most days, but on one occasion it saved the life of an 18-year-old in Tennessee.

Although on most days, Siri is known to misinterpret words and not understand different accents, it managed to come to the rescue of teenager Sam Ray from Murfressboro.

Ray was making repairs on a truck which was propped up with a jack, when suddenly the jack collapsed, pinning him under nearly 5,000 tonnes of weight.

Ray yelled for help but in vain as nobody was in close proximity to hear him, and being in a location where nobody could find him made the situation even more difficult.

Read: Apple’s solution for iPhone users with small hands

While trying to free himself, the teen accidentally hit the home button on his iPhone and realised he activated Siri after which he repeatedly started telling Siri to 'call 911'.

Despite several attempts, Ray was unable to make the digital assistant call 911 until he heard someone say 'hello'. Rutherford County dispatcher Christina Lee at the other end of the line first believed the call was a “pocket-dial,” but soon realised it was a call for help.

Lee was able to locate Ray from the phone signal but could not determine his exact address until he screamed it into the phone.

Ray was discovered soon after the call was made and voluntary firefighters came and retrieved him from beneath the vehicle. He had been pinned for nearly 40 minutes, and was left with a bruised kidney, concussion, broken ribs and burns on one of his arms.

Read: Community preparedness: Volunteers get rescue training

Chief of trauma and surgical care at Vanderbilt University said that Ray was lucky and recovering and that such injuries could be fatal. Ray said he was thankful to be alive and plans to use an iPhone for the rest of his life. "I guess I'm stuck with an iPhone for the rest of my life," he said. "I owe them that."

This article originally appeared on Forbes