According to media reports, Roman, who lives in Kenley, Croydon, used his mother’s thumb to unlock her iPhone and asked Siri, Apple’s intelligent personal assistant, for help.

Siri dialled 999 and put the boy through to emergency services.

Metropolitan police in London released a clip of the phone call, which occurred on March 9. In it, Roman is heard calmly introducing himself and explaining where he lives.

He told the operator he thought his mother was dead because “she’s closing her eyes and she’s not breathing”, The Daily Mail reported.

Police and paramedics were immediately dispatched to the home, where they gave emergency first aid to the mother and took her to hospital.

Media reports say she has since been discharged and is now back home with Roman, his twin brother and their younger brother.

This is not the first time Siri has saved the day in emergency situations.

Last March, an Australian woman used Siri to call an ambulance for her one-year-old daughter after the baby stopped breathing.

Stacey Gleeson told Australia’s 7 News that she panicked after seeing her daughter turn blue. She said she dropped her phone but remembered its voice activation function.

“Hey Siri, call the ambulance,” she yelled, prompting an automatic call for help.

“And then before I knew it the ambulance was on its way and Giana was breathing again,” she told the Australian daily.

Siri was introduced as an iPhone feature in 2011. The voice activated artificial intelligence software allows users to speak commands to send messages, place phone calls or even make dinner reservations.