A holidaymaker who dropped his phone in a canal in Venice, stripped off and leapt in - diving 6ft to retrieve it - before finding it still worked. Darren Stevens, 44, was on a work trip in Italy when his iPhone slipped out of his hand and fell into a canal whilst he visited Venice, Italy. Instead of accepting defeat and shelling out for a new phone, Darren decided to get his kit off and plunged into the famous waterways, much to his friends' shock. He stripped down to his shorts and jumped into the water - in an attempt to find his iPhone 13 Pro Max After nearly a dozen dives underwater and some help from a nearby gondolier, Darren located his phone - and was amazed to find it still in full working order. Darren, an athletic football director, originally from Ireland but now living in Rochester, New York, US, said: "It was either lose $1,400 or jump in the water. "And there was no way I was wasting $1,400 on a new phone. "The phone's waterproof up to around 30ft, so I knew it'd work if I found it." Darren - who also works a part-time radio DJ - was on a tour of the city for the day and had been warned by a tour guide about dropping his phone. "The tour guide was saying loads of people have lost their phone in the canal," Darren said. "I was like ‘what dummy would do that? How could you drop your phone in the canal?'" Darren and his friends sat down at a bar next to the river and he showed them a video on his phone, before dropping it and watching on as it disappeared beneath the water. After getting confirmation that the water was clean from a gondolier, Darren - a confident swimmer - had no question in his mind about entering the canal. "I could see there were lots of fish in the water, so I asked the gondola guy if it was clean to which he confirmed it was," he said. "In the centre of Venice, the water tends to be a lot dirtier." After diving down around 10 times and using his hands to feel around, Darren struck gold and found his phone. "I didn't dare open my eyes, just used feeling and a bit of help from the guy in the gondola who could see it," he said. "It was only about 6ft deep, so I was convinced I'd find it. "Everyone started cheering when I popped up with the phone. "People were coming from other restaurants getting out their chairs. "There must have been about 60-80 people watching me, taking pictures and videos."