Have (Google) Maps Will Travel. You sure? It is a little fuzzy now for Amber Vanhecke, 24, when – most likely is a mapping mistake – Google Maps brought her down the wrong path and lost her. She ended up stranded in a remote part of the Grand Canyon for 5 days.
Amber thought that she was going to die and recorded her farewell messages to her family and friends on her mobile phone. Fortunately, her luck got better and was rescued after a traumatic 119 hours and almost running out of food and water.
Amber was travelling alone and intends to go hiking in the area and that is when Google Maps indicated that she make a turn down a road that didn’t exist.
“The road wasn’t there” she recalled. Soon, her car ran out of petrol and she was now out of the mobile phone coverage area. She could not contact emergency services.
“And that was the first moment I felt true panic,” she told ABC in the US.
As the second and third day dragged on in the harsh conditions of the Grand Canyon, she became more panicked by her predicament.
“I was panicking and crying and sobbing — I was a mess,” she said.
A savvy hiker, Amber quickly gathered rocks to spell out ‘HELP’ on the ground hoping any aircrafts flying through would be able to spot her.
On the fifth day of being stranded, she decided to hike out of the canyon in hopes of finding some mobile service, leaving signs near her car informing any potential passers-by of the direction she had gone.
It turned out to be a lifesaving plan. She was able to find some reception and briefly get in contact with emergency services before the call dropped out.
I wonder where she got lost… and whether the error has been fixed.
