A man who lost his iPhone 10 months ago while canoeing on a river in England was shocked to have it returned in working order by someone who spotted it on the bottom of that same river.

Earlier this month, Miguel Pacheco was canoeing with his family on the River Wye, in Cinderford, Gloucestershire, when he spotted something blue in the water. It turned out to be an iPhone covered with mud and full of water, but instead of throwing it back in, Pacheco decided to take it with him and see if it still worked. Chances were low, considering where the phone had been found, but after using an air compressor to dry it out and placing it in the airing cupboard overnight, Miguel Pacheco was shocked to see the charging icon pop up on the screen when he plugged it in.

Photo: Omar Al-Ghosson/Unsplash

“In the morning when I put it on charge, I just couldn’t believe it,” Pacheco said. “I didn’t think it was any good. It was full of water.”

Not only was the iPhone charging, but it turned on as well, revealing a photo of a man and woman as the screensaver, with the date 13 August, which, as it turned out, was the day its owner lost in that same River Rye. Pacheco told his story on social media, sharing photos of the iPhone with the photo of its presumed owner, and before long, someone recognized them.

After posting the photos in his local Cinder Noticeboard Facebook group, the post was shared over 4,000 times, and reached a friend of the people in the screensaver, Owain Davis and his fiancée Fiona Gardner, who live in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Photo: Miguel Pacheco/Facebook

When he saw the phone, Owain Davies couldn’t believe it. After all, he had felt it fall out of his back pocket during a canoeing accident over 10 months ago and figured it was lost forever. Now it was back in his possession with all the memories stored in it intact and in perfect working condition.

“I was in a two-man canoe and my partner probably shouldn’t have stood up, and needless to say we fell in,” Davies recalled. “The phone was in my back pocket and as soon as it was in the water I realized the phone was gone.”

The iPhone’s owner was obviously impressed with Miguel Pacheco’s efforts to dry out the phone and seek him out on social media, admitting that if it had been him, he would have probably tossed it into the nearest trash can.

Photo: Miguel Pacheco/Facebook

“I know if I lost my phone, I’ve got a lot of pictures of my children, I know I’d want that back,” Miguel explained.

Interestingly, this isn’t the first time an iPhone dropped in water for several months is retrieved in working condition. Last year, we wrote about an iPhone 11 found on a lake bed a year after being dropped by its owner. It still worked.