Three men in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh died after their vehicle plunged off an incomplete bridge into the Ramganga River, with questions being asked about the accuracy of the Google Maps app they were using at the time.
The English-language Indian newspaper Economic Times reports that the three men were travelling to the town of Faridpur to attend a wedding and used Google Maps to navigate. Late on Saturday night, their vehicle drove off the incomplete bridge, which had mostly been washed away in a flood months earlier.
Local residents spotted the vehicle on Sunday morning and alerted the police, who recovered the bodies.
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A relative of one of the deceased put blame on the popular navigation app. “The maps shouldn’t have shown that the bridge was complete,” he told the Economic Times, adding that
local government also bore culpability. “The road should have been blocked, but it wasn’t.”
Law enforcement officials are investigating how the approach road to the bridge was allowed to remain open. They are also questioning representatives of Google Maps, according to reporting from the Press Trust of India news agency.
This is not the first time Indian motorists have gotten into trouble through using Google Maps. In June, two people narrowly escaped their sinking car after the navigation app directed them to an old unsafe bridge – despite a new one being available for safe crossing. A similar incident occurred in 2023, when two young doctors died after their car plunged into a river while using Google Maps.
