Google Maps Led Stranded Safari Guide to Crocodile-Infested Waters

One wrong turn left a safari guide “lucky to be alive” after being stuck in crocodile infested waters overnight, the same spot which killed others just hours before.

During Christmas week, 56-year-old Mike Turner picked up his new open-topped safari vehicle and put the destination of a guest house in South Africa into Google Maps, as he was renting in an area he was unfamiliar with. However, the navigation app allegedly navigated him to cross a bridge that floods when it rains or storms, which happens to also be a place that crocodiles frequent.

Turner spent the night in the pitch black flooded river and managed to cling to the raised bench and call for help. It took 15 hours for a rescue helicopter to arrive and rescue him. Authorities told him they two people were swept away by the waters earlier in the day and when they found their bodies, they were “half eaten by crocs.”

“It was absolutely terrifying,” he told reporters of the night he spent. “It's a miracle that I survived the night.”

To save himself, he wedged the truck on the side of the bridge, which went against the current and then climbed to the highest point.

He added, “I didn't have any kind of weapon with me. I was thinking, 'If a croc tries to get me, it's going to get a boot in the teeth!’”

Ironically, Nile crocodiles were seen on the riverbanks while they were recovering the new vehicle. Turner was later treated for shock and dehydration.

According to the report, flash flooding and rain has killed at least 20 people in the country since Dec. 25.