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Home / Travel

Watch: Kiwi man's incredible roller coaster catch saves stranger's phone

Otago Daily Times
5 Sep, 2019 11:49 PM2 mins to read

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It's one of those moments that has to be seen to be believed - and luckily it was caught on video.

Timaru man Samuel Kempf was recently in Europe representing New Zealand in the Fistballing World Championships in Switzerland last month.

After the championships, Kempf took a holiday and headed to Barcelona, where he visited a theme park and got the best holiday footage: showing him on a rollercoaster, catching a phone flying through the air at 134kmh.

Jubilant: The Kiwi chapion Fistballer's lightning reactions made him a hero. Photo / Supplied
Jubilant: The Kiwi chapion Fistballer's lightning reactions made him a hero. Photo / Supplied

Footage of that moment, uploaded to YouTube by Kempf, has gone viral with more than 1.2 million views in the first 48 hours.

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"I was in Spain at Port Aventura on shambhala ride and saw the person a few rows ahead drop their IPhone X," he wrote in the video description.

"Long story short, I caught it. This roller coaster is moving at over 130kms... was once Europe's tallest and fastest coaster.. only recently beaten."

Once they were off the rollercoaster, Kempf handed the phone back to its owner, who was looking for the device on the ground.

Lightning reatctions: The momen Kempf saved a stranger's phone on a Swiss coaster. Photo / Supplied
Lightning reatctions: The momen Kempf saved a stranger's phone on a Swiss coaster. Photo / Supplied

"He couldn't believe it, he gave me a big hug," Kempf told Stuff.

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"The funniest reaction was when we had got off the rollercoaster and you go down to look at the photos and videos they take and half the people there seemed to be watching our screen and then everyone started cheering and clapping when it happened."

The owner of the phone bought the video as a thank you to the Kiwi.

People on YouTube love the Timaru man's incredible dexterity.

"In all my years on the internet this is probably the coolest s**t i've ever seen," one person commented.

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