Early morning on Thursday, two men narrowly escaped after their car, using Google Maps for navigation, plunged into a river on the Pallanchi Forest road in Kasaragod.
They managed to escape and contact the Fire Force personnel because their vehicle, swept away by water currents, became lodged in a tree.
The rescued youths mentioned that in the early hours of Thursday, they were using Google Maps to navigate to a hospital in neighboring Karnataka.
At 6 am on Thursday, Abdul Rashid and A Thashreef encountered the accident while driving towards a hospital in Uppinangady, Karnataka. Rashid was driving and following the directions provided by Google Maps.
Rasheed mentioned that they drove their car through a narrow road as shown by Google Maps.
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PTI reported Rasheed as saying, ‘Using the vehicle’s headlight, we noticed some water ahead of us. However, we failed to observe the presence of a river on both sides with a bridge in the middle. Additionally, there was no sidewall on the bridge.’
Rasheed added that the darkness outside obscured the path, leading to the accident.
The water currents suddenly began to carry away the car, but it later got stuck in a tree on the shores of the river.
They escaped by lowering the side windows and then informed their relatives about the accident via phone, who subsequently alerted fire force officials.
Later, Fire Force personnel rushed to the scene and used ropes to safely pull out the two men.
It’s noteworthy that despite the construction of a new, taller bridge 500 meters from the accident site four years ago, Google Maps continues to display the old bridge.
Not A First Incident
In the previous month, a group of tourists from Hyderabad accidentally entered a swollen stream near Kuruppanthara in Kottayam, reportedly following directions from Google Maps.
With assistance from a nearby police patrol unit and local residents, all four individuals managed to escape unharmed, despite their vehicle becoming fully submerged.
Police reported that due to heavy rains, water overflowing from the stream covered the road the tourists were traveling on. Unfamiliar with the area, they drove directly into the water body while using Google Maps for navigation.
