With 3% battery life on his iPhone, stuck with a 3G signal, a man survives a life and death ordeal

It wasn't the Apple Watch but the iPhone itself that saved 41-year-old Tim Blakey. According to his Instagram account (via The New York Post), Blakey was snowboarding all by himself 10,000 feet up a Swiss Mountain when all of a sudden, a hidden gap in the ice sent him falling 15 feet. He landed on a snow bridge that was described as "fragile" and would have fallen further to his death had it not been there to stop his fall.

Blakey was approximately 16 feet below the ice but still managed to connect to a 3G signal. Additionally, he only had 3% battery life left on his phone and the screen was continually getting water dripped on it. Still, even with odds against him, Blakley remembered the iPhone's Emergency Services shortcut.

Remember this because it could save your life one day. Press the iPhone side button and any one of the two volume rockers until you see the Emergency SOS Slider. Drag the Emergency SOS slider to call emergency services. If you continue to hold down the side button and volume button instead, an alert sounds and a countdown timer starts. Continue to hold down the buttons until the timer comes to an end and emergency services will be called.

On Instagram, Blakey remembered to thank the Swiss Rescue team that saved him after he activated the iPhone Emergency Services. He also thanked Apple for its "side button 5 click to emergency services." It took about 20 minutes for Blakey to reach someone on the phone, and once he was connected to someone, they advised him not to move. Some 45 minutes later he was freed suffering a ligament injury to his ankle.

Considering the cliffhanger nature of his ordeal, Tim is lucky to be alive. As he wrote on Instagram, "To walk /hobble away from this relatively unharmed & make my flight back to London that evening is quite the headf*ck." To which we add, "Indeed."

Again, in the back of your mind, bookmark the side button Emergency Services shortcut because you never know when it might help you make it through your own life and death ordeal.