A group of Hyderabad-based tourists drove into a stream swollen with water near Kerala’s Kuruppanthara. Kerala police claimed that the tourists were apparently using Google Maps, which led them into the stream.
The four-member group, including a woman, was headed to Alappuzha late on Friday night when the incident occurred.
The police said the road the group was travelling on was covered by water overflowing from the stream due to the heavy rains, and because the tourists were unfamiliar with the area, they drove right into it while using Google Maps to navigate the way.
The good news is that all four tourists in the car managed to escape unharmed! The tourists were saved due to the efforts of a nearby police patrolling unit, and residents, but their vehicle was completely submerged under the water.
“Efforts are on to pull it out,” an officer of Kaduthuruthy police station told news agency PTI.
This is not the first such incident reported in Kerala.
In October last year, two young doctors died in a car accident which occurred after they allegedly followed directions on Google Maps and fell into a river.
Following the incident, Kerala police issued cautionary guidelines for using the technology during the monsoon season.
In a hill town of Tamil Nadu, an SUV driver using Google Maps for the ‘fastest route’ ended up stuck on a flight of steps in Gudalur.
In a similar incident in 2017, a North Carolina man died after driving his car off a collapsed bridge while following Google Maps. His family filed a lawsuit against the technology giant for negligence, claiming it had been informed of the collapse but failed to update its navigation system.
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Published: 26 May 2024, 05:53 PM IST