Youths, relying on Google Maps, drive vehicle into river in Kasaragod; rescued
Kasaragod: Two youths, who were on their way to a hospital using Google Maps to find their way, drove their car into a swollen river but had a miraculous escape as the vehicle got stuck to a tree in Kerala's northernmost Kasaragod district.
The visuals of Fire Force personnel pulling them to safety from the overflowing river in Pallanchi here the other day went viral on social media platforms on Sunday.
They could escape and contact the Fire Force personnel only because their vehicle, which was carried away by the water currents, got stuck in a tree.
The rescued youths said they were on their way to a hospital in neighbouring Karnataka in the wee hours the other day and were proceeding using Google Maps.
Abdul Rasheed, one of the youths, said Google Maps showed a narrow road and they drove their car through it.
"Using the vehicle's headlight, we felt that there was some water in front of us. But, we didn't see that there was a river on both sides and a bridge in the middle. There was also no sidewall for the bridge," he told a TV channel.
The car suddenly began to get carried away in the water currents but later got stuck in a tree on the shores of the river.
By this time, they managed to open the car door, come out of the vehicle and contacted the Fire Force personnel by sending them the location.
Later, Fire Force personnel rushed to the place and pulled out the two men to safety using ropes.
"We never thought that we could come back to life. We truly feel that it is a rebirth," Rasheed added.
Last month, a group of tourists from Hyderabad drove into a swollen stream near Kuruppanthara in Kottayam apparently after using Google Maps.
All four managed to escape unharmed due to the efforts of a nearby police patrol unit and local residents, but their vehicle was completely submerged.
Two #Kanhangad natives had a narrow escape on the #Pallanchi Forest road in #Kasaragod's #Kuttikol after their car fell into a river early morning on Thursday.
— Hate Detector 🔍 (@HateDetectors) June 27, 2024
The passengers M Abdul Rashid (35) and A Thashreef (36) said they met with the accident at 6 AM while heading towards a… pic.twitter.com/SMmJ58UBq3
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
