A SOUTHEND diver found an iPhone 40ft under the sea after it lit up with a text...two days after it was dropped by a kayaker!

It was found after Rob Smith, from Bridport, Dorset, and his cousin (visiting from Canada) were kayaking near West Bay, Dorset.

While paddling, his cousin’s iPhone dropped into the ocean and plunged to the seabed.

Although the phone was in a waterproof case, they accepted they would be unable to recover it. Two days later however, Cerys Hearsey, 36, from Southend, went diving in the same area and spotted the iPhone when she noticed a flash on the seabed.

Remarkably, not only did it still work after two days in the water, but it still had 84 per cent battery life.

Cerys recovered the phone and used its contacts to find the owner.

She scooped it up, took it back to the shore and scrolled through the contacts.

Cerys then arranged to meet Rob, 34, in nearby Weymouth after the pair explained their cousin was on a flight back to Canada.

The phone has now been posted back across the Atlantic.

She said: “I could see the phone sitting on the bottom of the seabed because it received a message and lit up. I picked it up and returned to land where I cut it out of its case as it was starting to get a bit of water inside. I then looked up the numbers and got in touch with the owner’s family.

“Phones are so critical to life nowadays they can be difficult to replace.

“The owner of the phone was on a flight back to Canada, so I met with the owner’s cousin Rob. I only had an hour before I had to return home, but luckily he could pick it up.

“They were really lovely people and amazed to see it, I think they had given up any hopes of finding it.

“I just hope someone would do the same for me one day.”