Man jumps into Charles River in attempt to retrieve phone, finds 11 others

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — John Anastos was on the Charles River Tuesday night, paddle-boarding with a date, and when they got back, he placed his cell phone on the dock to get out.

“Kicked that thing right into the water and just down it went into the black abyss,” said Anastos.

He was devastated to lose his phone, so he jumped into the water to see if he could find it.

Unfortunately, he never did — but he found eleven others!

“Every time in the same spot, I wasn’t moving on the dock, come up with at least one to two phones,” said Anastos, who jumped in the water seven or eight times to try to find his phone.

Somehow at least three of the phones he found at the bottom of the Charles actually turned back on.

“This phone was down there for over a year — still works, so mailing that one off today,” said Anastos.

Anastos says he was able to find two of the phone’s owners by clicking the emergency option, which shows the person’s medical ID if they have that information filled out.

“Using that we were able to — with one of the phones, I texted that person’s spouse because that was listed as her emergency contact,” said Anastos.

Now he’s sending some of these long-lost phones back to their owners.

“It was fun to like text them and have them be like ‘oh my God I can’t believe you got my phone,” said Anastos.

Anastos says he still has one more working phone with a dog on the home screen that he’d like to return to its owner.

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