Gif : YouTube

Samuel Kempf was riding a roller coaster in Spain when he saw an iPhone hurtling through the air. Lesser men may have simply watched helplessly as the phone plummeted to Earth, no doubt getting destroyed in the process, but Kempf is not lesser men. He jumped into action, and like a figure from a Renaissance painting, stretched his hand to the heavens, rescuing that iPhone from a shattered fate that smartphone users know all too well in the 21st century. Amazingly, the iPhone grab was all captured on video.


“Long story short I caught it,” Kempf told a news outlet from his native New Zealand.

Caught it he did, saving the unnamed phone dropper hundreds of dollars in replacement costs for his iPhone X. The roller coaster, dubbed the Shambhala at Port Aventura theme park, reaches a top speed of 80 miles per hour, making Kempf’s feat that much more impressive. Kempf returned the phone to its owner when the ride was done—an owner who apparently believed that his phone was lost for good once it slipped from his hand.


“He was super surprised and happy at the same time,” Kempf told 1 News. “He gave me a big hug and said he was going to buy the on-ride video for me.”

Kempf uploaded that video to YouTube, where mere mortals such as us can watch this legendary act for ourselves.

People at theme parks all over the world love to record every second of their vacation on their various devices. But that can lead to a lot of people dropping their expensive gadgets when a roller coaster goes way too fast.


Be careful out there, folks. Not every roller coaster has a Samuel Kempf riding behind you. Phone-saving heroes are rare.

Just sit back and enjoy the ride. And maybe put down the phone.