Navi Mumbai: Woman Falls Into Water-Filled Ditch Following Google Maps Direction, Rescued

A woman accidentally drove her car into a water-filled ditch while following the navigation of Google Maps on Friday morning in Navi Mumbai. The incident occurred as she was on her way from Belapur to Ulwe.

Police said that the woman has been rescued, adding that the woman followed the direction of Google Maps, which routed her beneath the bridge and minutes later, she plunged into the water.

As per media reports, security officials stationed nearby acted swiftly and pulled the woman out of the water. Her car was later retrieved using a crane.

The video of the rescue operation went viral on social media. However, it’s not the first case when drivers were misguided by Google Maps’ navigation. In the past, Google Maps has come under scrutiny for misleading navigation that resulted in dangerous and sometimes fatal incidents.

In previous such incidents, three people died in Uttar Pradesh when their car, relying on Google Maps, plunged 50 feet into a river in Badaun district. And in Kerala, a tourist group from Hyderabad drove into a flooded stream while following Google Maps, but fortunately, all survived.

Google Maps, which has around 60 million active users in India, often faces criticism for giving wrong directions. According to experts, with apps like Google Maps drawing their information from user data, satellite images, and government updates, it’s just next to impossible to track every detail, especially in a country as massive as India, where most infrastructural changes are never accounted for.

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