Kottayam (Kerala), May 25: Using Google maps to navigate resulted in a tourist group from Hyderabad driving into a stream swollen with water near Kuruppanthara in this south Kerala district, police said on Saturday.
The incident occurred late Friday night when the four-member group, including a woman, were going towards Alappuzha. The road they were travelling on was covered by water overflowing from the stream due to heavy rains and since the tourists were unfamiliar with the area, they drove right into the water body while navigating using Google maps, police said.
All four managed to escape unharmed due to the efforts of a nearby police patrolling unit and local residents, but their vehicle was completely submerged under the water, an officer of Kaduthuruthy police station said. The vehicle -- a Ford Endeavour -- was later pulled out of the stream using a crane.
Thereafter, the man who was driving the vehicle told reporters that he and his friends were going to Alappuzha from Munnar and they took the route shown by Google maps.
"At around 2-3 pm, it started raining very heavily. The road was waterlogged. I was going very slow at around 10 kms per hour. But, suddenly the front tyres went deep into the water and the vehicle lost control. Then the rear tyres also went in and the vehicle started floating forward. We quickly pulled down the windows and jumped out. We somehow managed to safely reach the shore," he said.
Meanwhile, residents of the area said such accidents happen there during the rainy season when the road gets submerged. This is not the first such Google map-related accident 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, the Kerala police had issued cautionary guidelines for using the technology during the monsoon season.
