A fisherman who was almost crushed to death under a huge boulder in Astoria, Oregon, on Saturday was saved after being able to get Siri to contact 911.
The family of 28-year-old Joe Little said he feels lucky to be alive after he was able to use his Bluetooth headphones to activate the Apple virtual assistant to contact first responders, the New York Post reported. Little is facing an 8-hour facial reconstruction surgery for his injuries.
“His face got smashed. He’s almost unrecognizable,” his mother Mindy said. “It’s a miracle that my son is alive.”
Little was fishing alone in the morning at Hammond Marina jetty when a rock tumbled and left him in a life-or-death crisis, his grandmother, Kelly Simonson, said.
“He said that he felt it start to move and he put his feet down to stop it, but the boulder was huge, and he slipped down and it just went over him,” Simonson said.
Little was trapped beneath the massive rock under the high tide line, so he knew he needed to contact help quickly or he would drown.
His Bluetooth earbuds were still connected to his phone and he was able to activate Siri and call 911 around 7 a.m., Mindy said.
Warrenton Police Department Sgt. Dylan McCoy said officers were able to locate Little by honking their car horns as a dispatcher asked Little if the sound was getting closer. Then, police flew a drone and found Little crushed beneath the boulder with only his upper body and feet visible, McCoy said.
Firefighters had to carefully maneuver the boulder to free Little.
“They removed some of the smaller ones and that allowed them to move him from underneath the extremely large boulder which had trapped him,” McCoy said.
First responders ultimately decided the terrain was too dangerous to move Little on foot, so they called the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) for assistance. USCG flew a helicopter to the accident site and was able to pull Little up in a gurney.
Little is recovering at hospital in Portland and is being treated for severe facial injuries, including a broken jaw, according to the report.