3 dead as car following ‘misleading navigation’ falls off incomplete bridge

Navigation of route through GPS data resulted in a tragic incident in Badaun district on Sunday. Three people lost their lives after their car fell into the Ramganga River from an under-construction bridge.
According to police, the fatal accident happened around 10:00 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling to Dataganj from Bareilly. The PTI report, noted that GPS navigation was being used by the vehicle driver who was directed to proceed through the damaged section of the bridge.
“Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the GPS. As a result, the driver was misled and did not realize the bridge was unsafe,” PTI quoted Circle Officer of the area Ashutosh Shivam as saying.
Furthermore, the Circle Officer pointed to the absence of safety barriers or warning signs on the under-construction bridge that may have prevented the foreseeable disaster. The report further states that the car was moving at high speed, due to which the driver was unable to bring the vehicle to a halt when the bridge ended. The car plunged 25 feet into the Ramganga with its three passengers, all of whom died on the spot, a social media user on X reported.
As soon as the news came in, Police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Badaun’s Dataganj police station rushed to the scene, where they recovered the vehicle and the dead bodies. The bodies were sent for post-mortem, the Circle Officer said. The deceased were identified as Kaushal, Vivek, and Amit, who were returning after attending a wedding, a user on X said,
Social media users raised concerns over the risks of relying solely on navigation technology, as one user stated, “Never trust Google maps blindly.” A second user commented, “Heartbreaking.
Always double check routes. Prayers for the victims.” Another user replied, “Tragic incident! Relying solely on Google Maps can be risky.
A fourth user wrote, “Google maps ne bhej diya or mili mout.”
 
A fifth user posted, “How did google maps show the road as open ? I thought they have satellites to map routes and traffic ! This murder is on @Google.”