Woman gets working iPhone back 15 months after losing it at the bottom of a river

CHARLESTON - A woman who lost her iPhone during an outing on a river in South Carolina got it back in working condition after a YouTube star and diver found it more than a year later.

Erica Bennett posted about the surreal experience on her Facebook page on Sept. 23. She said she was out on a river float with friends on June 19, 2018 when she dropped her phone in the water.

“I was incredibly emotional and devastated over it for a number of reasons,” she said in the post.

But then on Sept. 22, she said she received a call from YouTuber and diver Nugget Noggin. He told her he’d found her phone in the river and wanted to give it back to her.

The YouTube star also shared the experience on his YouTube page and Facebook. He said he was out scuba diving when he discovered the phone in its waterproof case.

“The phone was underwater for 15 months in the river and it still works, thanks to the waterproof case,” he said. “Not only was (Bennett) able to get her phone back, but irreplaceable text messages from her deceased father.”

In the video, the YouTuber talks about how people often lose jewelry and other precious items in the river. So he and another person went diving to see what they could find. Noggin even joked about finding a “cellphone or two.”

As they’re swimming in the murky waters, he stumbles upon Bennett’s phone by grabbing the cord attached to the case.

After the dive, he takes the phone out and finds it fully preserved. He then charges the phone to see if he can find the owner. After a few moments it turns on and he calls Bennett, leaving a voicemail about the discovery.

Noggin met Bennett not long after to give her the phone back.

“I just sat here and cried reading the only texts I still have from my dad,” Bennett said. “The photos from that day were pretty incredible, too.”

Bennett told Noggin that she never thought she would get her phone back.

This story was reported from Los Angeles.