Guided to a Bridge Cut Off by Flooding
Fell 15m Below... All Dead
Google "Deep Condolences to Bereaved Families... Cooperating with Investigation"
A vehicle following directions from Google Maps fell off a broken bridge, resulting in the death of all passengers on board.
According to local media such as The Times of India and Hindustan Times on the 26th (local time), a car traveling to attend a wedding in the Balrili area of Uttar Pradesh in northern India fell into the Ramganga River from a bridge under construction on the 24th. All three people in the car died in the accident.
The accident was discovered the next morning when local residents found the damaged vehicle on the riverbed. Local police stated, "At around 9:30 a.m., a report was received about a damaged vehicle found in the Ramganga River. We then dispatched officers to the scene and recovered the bodies." They added, "It was confirmed that the Google Maps app was running on the driver's mobile phone." It appears the driver entered the bridge under construction following Google Maps' guidance and, unaware that the bridge was broken, continued driving and fell about 15 meters below.
The bridge had been partially broken due to a large-scale flood last year and was undergoing repairs. It is reported that there were no warning signs on the bridge. The police said, "At the time, there were no proper signs indicating construction or barriers blocking entry at the bridge entrance," and arrested four public works officials and one anonymous Google Maps official.
Regarding the accident, Google sent an email to AFP News Agency expressing "deep condolences to the bereaved families" and stated, "We are working closely with authorities and cooperating to investigate this issue." A local media outlet criticized, "The bridge collapsed a year ago and no one should have crossed it since then. How could Google Maps, which collects an enormous amount of data, recommend a road with no driving records for over a year?"
Meanwhile, a similar incident occurred in the United States where a driver following Google Maps' directions fell to their death after crossing a bridge that had collapsed nine years earlier. The victim's family filed a lawsuit against Google, claiming, "We trusted Google Maps' directions on an unfamiliar road and had an accident." They argued that despite multiple reports of the bridge collapse, Google did not reflect this information on its maps.
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