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Natalia Sidorska
Natalia Sidorska survived the car crash which left her hospitalised for four months
A woman who survived a crash that saw her car plunge hundreds of feet down a mountainside in north Wales said her mobile phone saved her life.
Natalia Sidorska, 32, lost control of her car while driving along Horseshoe Pass - a winding, scenic A road in Denbighshire - late one evening in June 2025.
The vehicle careered off the road and rolled down the mountainside before coming to rest in a field below. Moments after she escaped from the wreckage, it burst into flames.
Mountain rescue teams estimated Natalia's car may have fallen more than 100m (330ft).
She later discovered her iPhone 16 had automatically activated a crash detection alert during the incident, notifying the emergency services and her emergency contacts, and sharing her location.
Natalia said the most challenging part was not actually the crash itself, but everything that followed.
She said she often drove alone to clear her mind. On the night of the crash, she was driving along Horseshoe Pass for the first time.
"I didn't realise that there was a very tight bend coming up and when I realised... it was too late for me to do anything."
Natalia Sidorska
Natalia suffered life-changing injuries to her ankle
Natalia admitted she may have been driving too fast on the unfamiliar road, which has a 40mph speed limit.
She said she remembered "seeing everything" as the car fell, and gripped the steering wheel tightly to prevent it from falling off as the car hit the ground, the airbags deployed and the vehicle continued bouncing down the mountainside.
When it finally stopped, Natalia realised she was trapped inside.
"I opened my eyes and I realised that I'm still alive and I'm underneath the back seat for some reason," she said.
"I tried to process what's just happened. And then I started hearing the clicking fire noise.
"I realised that the car is on fire."
Unable to move properly because of injuries to her leg, she tried unsuccessfully to force the doors open.
Believing she was going to die, she said she "decided that I will fall asleep so the smoke can poison me before I can feel the pain caused by flames".
But moments later she remembered she had locked the car doors before setting off.
She unlocked the doors, crawled from the wreckage and rolled herself away from the vehicle.
"I know it sounds like a movie, and if I wasn't there, I wouldn't believe it, but as soon as I looked at the car, it exploded," she said. "It was literally seconds."
About 20 minutes later, emergency services arrived, including firefighters and mountain rescue teams.
She later discovered her iPhone 16 had activated a crash detection alert.
"It was very late at night and I was very deep down the mountain," she said.
"I'm grateful to Apple for what the iPhone did - I don't think that I would have been able to get help that quickly."
According to Apple, the system is designed to detect severe car crashes - such as front-impact, side-impact and rear-end collisions and rollovers.
The phone uses a number of sensors to detect a crash, including sound, changes in air pressure caused by airbags deploying, motion sensors and GPS.
Following a detected crash, users are given an option to call the emergency services or dismiss the alert.
However, if after 20 seconds the user does not respond, the phone automatically calls emergency services, giving the location of the incident.
It also sends a message to a user's emergency contacts if they have them.
Natalia Sidorska
Natalia says her family has been her "rock" since the incident
Natalia spent four months in hospital and underwent three operations after suffering serious injuries, including life-changing damage to her ankle and spine.
Surgeons removed her talus bone, which forms part of the ankle joint, after she developed an infection that prevented doctors from using metal implants.
"It will be a lifelong disability," she said.
She later moved to Liverpool with her 10-year-old son and said she remained optimistic, praising the support of her family.
"My family has proved that they are my rock," she said. "If I didn't have my family, I don't know what would happen to us.
"My son loves me so much, he's been really looking after me. He's been so understanding."
She said she had now been offered a home by Liverpool City Council and hoped to retrain as a Polish interpreter, having previously worked as a property manager.
"I've been offered a beautiful house now, so I'm positive."
Despite the trauma, Natalia has also returned to driving, using an adapted mobility car.
"It wasn't the car that failed. It was me," she said.
"And if you drive, no matter how good you are, always be cautious."
