When one's phone falls into the water, there are generally two kinds of reactions. The first would be to simply order another from an online market while the second would go into panic mode, calculating and regretting all at once.

If you happen to fall into the first category, then this guide most probably isn't for you. If you fall into the second category, commit this to memory. It may come in handy one day.

First and foremost, you should own a screwdriver set. You don't have to be a phone repairer to own this as experience taught me. I didn't own one but luckily for me, a friend's own was with me when my phone decided to go for a swim in Lake Bucketica.

When your phone drops into water, the last thing you should be doing is waiting for it to land. Dive after it! The moment it drops into water especially if it's not waterproof. The earpiece port, the charging/USB port, the mic port, e.t.c. are all pathways for water to flood the phone. After retrieving it, there is only one thing to do next and immediately.

REMOVE THE PHONE'S BATTERY!!

This is very advantageous to those who use phones with removable battery. For those with in-built battery, you have to turn the phone off if it hasn't shut down already and either have to start unscrewing the phone fast or crack the back cover to extract the battery. What use is an intact phone cover if the phone is ruined anyway? The more the battery remains in the phone, the greater damage is being done to the phone. Every second counts.

PLEASE DO NOT CHARGE THE PHONE UNTIL THE END!! NO MATTER WHAT, BE PATIENT!!
I did this and it worsened the phone's condition. Luckily for me, the phone was a toughie and not going down easy without a fight.

After pulling out the battery.. The next thing that comes to mind is how to get the phone completely dry. But this is often the wrong move as I found out. I used heat from a gas stove to dry the phone immediately but I caused another problem. The water that had found it's way to some components of the phone circuitry caused the phone to keep restarting even after drying the phone and nearly scalding my fingers with heat. So what do you do?

1. TAKE THE PHONE APART.
2. WIPE THE CIRCUITS WITH ALCOHOL.

Taking the phone apart is where the main puzzle lies, but it's quite easy. You need to note the flexes and the wires that hold parts of the phone together and gently disconnect them.
Using a brush and alcohol (like methylated spirit; not wine or beer), brush the circuits and phone parts generously but not so much on the screen. After this, you can proceed to drying the phone.

DRYING THE PHONE

Sunlight is often a saver here but nice alternatives are hot air blowers. At a point, I used an improvised 'hot chamber'. I got candles, cut them short into four pieces, lit them and put them in a hard wooden box. Then I dumped the phone parts in it. This served while the rain was pouring outdoors. Some people would recommend putting the phone in rice as a drying method but my heart can't take it. At this point, you can take the phone to a repairman if you don't feel up to it. I intend to see this through myself.

After doing this and was convinced that the phone parts were dried enough, I put the phone together last night and secured it in place with a phone case/pouch but left the screws out for now. The phone has been on and active, charging and discharhing well. I backed up my important stuffs as soon as it came on but in less than five hours from now, it'll be its one day anniversary since its resurrection.

So, there you have it. I hope this helps someone.

Knowledge they say is power. Very insightful thanks for sharing