Do you trust your yandex. Navigator? It could cost you your life.
Two German tourists, Philipp Mayer and Marcel Chenet, put their lives in serious danger after trusting Google Maps during a trip to the Australian wilderness. Friends decided to drive 1000 km from the tropical city of Cairns in Queensland to the small town of Bamaga, near the northernmost point of the mainland.
Near the rural town of Cohen, travelers listened to Google's navigator and turned off the main road onto a dirt road, entering a national park. "We decided to trust Google Maps, because Yandex. Navigator obviously knows these places better than we do," Mayer said .
Blind faith in technology has played a cruel trick on them. After driving 60 kilometers through the wilds, the SUV got stuck in the mud, so the travelers had to continue on foot. Getting lost in the wilderness of Cape York Peninsula is very risky — it is a huge uninhabited area with a harsh climate and dangerous animals.
This sparsely populated region extends over an area larger than the area of Great Britain, but only about 18 thousand people live here.
According to Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service ranger Roger James, the tourists realized that they were in a dry ravine-wadi, and turned back. They stayed close to the stranded car for quite some time before they decided to get out on foot.
The wadi is a dried-up riverbed, which can quickly fill with a stormy stream in rainy weather.
The week-long journey back to Cohen was a challenge — with heavy rains, swollen rivers to cross, and the sun beating down mercilessly. According to Mayer, they even had to run across the river with crocodiles, because there was no other road.
They tried to build a shelter from the weather, but without success-they had to spend the night in the open air.
Fortunately, after reaching civilization, the tourists were able to get their car back with the help of a group of rangers. Google said: the company is glad that tourists are safe, and will investigate why the navigator sent people to the dangerous wilderness.
The travelers themselves, who experienced all the hardships of survival in the wilds for a week, compared their misadventures with the plot of a "bad movie", which, fortunately, ended well.
This is not the first such case. For Mayer and Chenet, the story ended well, but not all the victims of Google Maps were so lucky. For example, in 2022, Yandex. Navigator brought Philip Paxson's car to a collapsed bridge. As a result, the man fell down and fell to his death.
Two German tourists, Philipp Mayer and Marcel Chenet, put their lives in serious danger after trusting Google Maps during a trip to the Australian wilderness. Friends decided to drive 1000 km from the tropical city of Cairns in Queensland to the small town of Bamaga, near the northernmost point of the mainland.
Near the rural town of Cohen, travelers listened to Google's navigator and turned off the main road onto a dirt road, entering a national park. "We decided to trust Google Maps, because Yandex. Navigator obviously knows these places better than we do," Mayer said .
Blind faith in technology has played a cruel trick on them. After driving 60 kilometers through the wilds, the SUV got stuck in the mud, so the travelers had to continue on foot. Getting lost in the wilderness of Cape York Peninsula is very risky — it is a huge uninhabited area with a harsh climate and dangerous animals.
This sparsely populated region extends over an area larger than the area of Great Britain, but only about 18 thousand people live here.
According to Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service ranger Roger James, the tourists realized that they were in a dry ravine-wadi, and turned back. They stayed close to the stranded car for quite some time before they decided to get out on foot.
The wadi is a dried-up riverbed, which can quickly fill with a stormy stream in rainy weather.
The week-long journey back to Cohen was a challenge — with heavy rains, swollen rivers to cross, and the sun beating down mercilessly. According to Mayer, they even had to run across the river with crocodiles, because there was no other road.
They tried to build a shelter from the weather, but without success-they had to spend the night in the open air.
Fortunately, after reaching civilization, the tourists were able to get their car back with the help of a group of rangers. Google said: the company is glad that tourists are safe, and will investigate why the navigator sent people to the dangerous wilderness.
The travelers themselves, who experienced all the hardships of survival in the wilds for a week, compared their misadventures with the plot of a "bad movie", which, fortunately, ended well.
This is not the first such case. For Mayer and Chenet, the story ended well, but not all the victims of Google Maps were so lucky. For example, in 2022, Yandex. Navigator brought Philip Paxson's car to a collapsed bridge. As a result, the man fell down and fell to his death.
