A former Navy SEAL who crashed his dirt bike along a remote stretch of the Columbia River gorge in Oregon survived, in part, thanks to his iPhone charger.
Matt L’Hommedieu, 46, used the cord of his iPhone to make a splint for his fractured leg after flying 40 feet from his bike down into a ravine, NBC affiliate KGW reported. L’Hommedieu was in the wilderness area searching for the parachute of D.B Cooper, the infamous hijacker of an airliner in 1971. Cooper escaped the plane mid-air with $200,000 and has never been found.
L’Hommedieu suffered several broken bones, but managed to put his SEAL training to use. Along with the iPhone charger cord, he fashioned a splint with shoelaces and sticks. "Honestly, at that point I was in survival mode," he told KGW.
After 24 hours alone and immobilized, a couple on a hike spotted L’Hommedieu’s dirt bike which led them to the injured man. Rescuers eventually reached L’Hommedieu and airlifted him to a hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery.
