Woman in car ‘using GMap’ falls in creek, saved in time

NAVI MUMBAI: A 29-year-old woman driving a high-end car to reach Ulwe, took the road leading to Belapur creek jetty instead of driving over the bridge. The car plunged into the creek at a dead-end around 1 am on Friday.

She was rescued by the coastal security police team deployed at the jetty, and her car was pulled out using a hydraulic crane. The woman, Shweta Sharma, a Kharghar resident , was on her way to Ulwe to a friend's residence.It was raining heavily and it was pitch dark when the woman took a left turn near NMMC headquarters. Instead of getting onto the Belapur creek bridge, she drove towards the service road, under the bridge, unaware that it was a dead-end towards the jetty, said senior inspector of coastal security police, Santosh Kane. Spotting a car heading towards the jetty, cops at the spot signalled her to stop. "But before she could halt the car plunged about 10 feet into the creek water," said Kane. "Within two minutes, she was spotted outside the car as the door opened. She was struggling to remain afloat in the water amid high tide. The Indian Rescue Team of Atal Setu pulled her onto a rescue boat," he said.

Though she did not sustain any injury, the police said that she appeared traumatised.

She was initially taken to NRI coastal police station where her statement was recorded.Senior inspector of CBD-Belapur police staation Sandesh Revale said that the woman did not mention in her police statement that she had been using Google Map for navigation to reach Ulwe.Assistant police inspector Narayan Palampalle of CBD police station said that soon after the woman had been rescued by the coastal police team, she told them that she had been using Google Maps. "She said she got confused by the direction shown on the map. Instead of ascending the bridge to head towards Ulwe, she drove along the service road, under the bridge.," said Palampalle.The police said that she informed them that she had started from CBD-Belapur to go to Ulwe.