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An iPhone was lost in a river for a year. When a diver found it, it still worked

Smartphone contained messages from owner's late father
Posted at 11:59 AM, Sep 25, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-25 15:00:38-04

When you drop an iPhone, it's almost guaranteed to shatter. Apparently that rule doesn't apply if you're dropping the Apple device into a river.

A diver in South Carolina was shocked to discover an iPhone in a waterproof case in the Edisto River during his most recent dive. Shockingly, the phone and it's chargeable, waterproof case, still worked.

Michael Bennett is a treasure hunter and widely known on YouTube for his channel Nugget Noggin, where he posts videos of his dives and explorations, along with whatever he finds.

His most recent find was an unusual one: an iPhone in a waterproof case at the bottom of a river — and it powered up right away.

"I came across something that looked kind of like a rope maybe attached to car keys, and when I pulled it up, I seen a phone inside of a waterproof case and I'm like, no way, this is unbelievable," he told WCIV.

He couldn't turn on the phone because it was locked with a passcode, but the tech savvy treasure hunter inserted the SIM card into another phone and was able to contact the owner of the phone, Erica Bennett.

And the phone held more value than he could have imagined.

According to Erica Bennett, she lost the iPhone while floating on the Edisto River with her family on June 19, 2018 — about 15 months before Michael Bennett found it.

The phone contained messages from her late father.

"It was kind of emotional because the last thing I have from him is 'hey I'm playing phone tag with you, so I just figured I just text you, how are you feeling?' and I think he had called me after that," she told WCIV. "I'm pretty sure it was Father's Day."

She said she's transferring her important files, including the messages from her father, to a new phone, preserving something far more valuable than any treasure.