Following Google Maps, man drives car into river in Kerala

The driver and passenger narrowly escaped. Efforts to fish out the car were on-going.

Thiruvananthapuram: In yet another incident of driving using Google Maps ending up in a mishap, two people had a narrow escape as their car fell into a river at Kasargod in Kerala.

Kanhangad natives Abdul Rahseed and Thasreef met with the accident at Pallanchi near Kuttikole, around 30 kilometres from Kasargod town, early Thursday morning.

The two were heading to Uppinangady in Dakshina Kannada with the help of Google Map's navigation. They entered an old bridge that lacked handrails, even as there was another new one with handrails to cross the river.

The car plunged into the river that was swollen due to the heavy rains.

Though the car was washed away the two managed to come out of the car through the windscreen of the doors and held on to tree branches. They informed their relatives over mobile phone. Subsequently Fire and Rescue service personnel rescued them.

Efforts to fish out the car were on-going.

Last month a group of tourists from Hyderabad who were heading to Alappuzha from Munnar tourist spot in Idukki met with a similar accident. All the four had a narrow escape then as local people and fire and rescue service personnel rescued them.

In October, two young doctors were killed and three others had a narrow escape after their car plunged into a river at Gothuruth near Paravur on the suburbs of Kochi . They were finding the route using Google Maps and took a wrong deviation.