French cyclists on their way to Kathmandu from Delhi reach Bareilly as they followed Google Maps | X/Bareilly Police
Bareilly: Two French cyclists going from Delhi to Kathmandu lost their way and reached near Churaili Dam in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly on Thursday. The two cyclists, Brian Jacques Gilbert and Sebastian Francois Gabriel, lost their way as Google Maps showed them the shortcut via Baheri in Bareilly, the police said as reported by news agency PTI.
Villagers spotted the French citizens at night at around 11 pm at an isolated and took them to the Churaili police outpost to ensure their safety. Baheri Circle Officer Arun Kumar Singh said French citizens Brian Jacques Gilbert and Sebastian Francois Gabriel had come to Delhi from France by flight on January 7.
“They had to go to Kathmandu in Nepal via Tanakpur from Pilibhit. Both foreigners were waylaid by Google Maps in the dark. The app showed them a shortcut via Baheri in Bareilly, due to which they got lost and reached Churaili Dam,” the CO said as reported by PTI.
“When the villagers saw both the foreigners roaming on bicycles on a deserted road at 11 pm Thursday, they could not understand their language. To avoid any incident with the two foreigners, they took both of them to the Churaili police outpost,” Singh added.
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When Senior Superintendent of Police Anurag Arya came to know about the entire matter, he spoke to the French cyclists and innstructed the local police to guide the foreigners to their destination.
It is not the first time that commuters faced inconvenience due to Google Maps. Last year in December a similar incident took place in Bareilly when Google Maps misled three people and their car plunged into a canal near Barkapur village on the Bareilly-Pilibhit state highway. However, the three passengers escaped unhurt.
In January this year, a similar incident happened with Assam Police. A 16-member police team from Assam’s Jorhat was in pursuit of a criminal and landed up in Nagaland as Google Maps allegedly showed them a wrong route. The police team crossed the border into Nagaland’s Mokokchung district, where locals mistook them for armed miscreants and detained them overnight.
