Video shows YiJi Chen searching for the iPhone in March 2020, the device after he found it on April 2 and a general video of the lake on April 5 2021, during the current drought which revealed the iPhone dropped which into the water a year ago

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A paddleboarder was amazed after finding his missing iPhone a year after dropping it into a lake - and it was still working.

YiJi Chen, 37, was having a watersports trip with friends when he lost his smartphone in Sun Moon Lake in Nantou County, Taiwan, in March 2020.

The device had been inside a cheap waterproof case hanging from his neck when the lace snapped and the iPhone 11 sank onto the water.

YiJi had written off any hope of recovering the expensive Apple iPhone as the water was too deep. However, when a friend returned to the area for another kayak trip on April 2, they told YiJi they had found it washed up on the shoreline and covered in mud.

Low rainfall had caused water levels in the popular lake to drop and the electronic device, which had sank to the bottom, had been exposed.

Incredibly, it was still working when YiJi took the iPhone home and removed the dirty waterproof case. A red battery bar appeared when he plugged it into a charger and within a few minutes it had turned back on - with no sign of damage.

YiJi said, who had already bought a new handset, he did not expect the iPhone to work and only charged it out of curiosity.

He said: ‘I was delighted when the phone started blinking. I did not expect it to still work after a long time. I cleaned the phone and wireless charging was normal and cable charging was normal. It had been in the water for a year but it's like nothing had happened to the phone. All I can say is the waterproof protective case is really amazing. It didn't let in a single drop of water at all.'

Sun Moon Lake, the iconic tourist spot, has been hit with severe drought over the last year as the country faced one of its worst water shortage crises in 56 years.

Reservoirs have bottomed out due to scant rain and lack of typhoons making landfall in the country last year.