A family of five from Greater Noida had a narrow escape after their car fell into a drain in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur Sunday night. Officials said the man at the wheel reportedly took a wrong route while following an online map for their destination.

Dial 112 and fire station personnel responded promptly and firemen pulled out the five occupants — three men, a woman and a 6-month-old child — from the car. “It took about two hours ensuring the family remained unhurt throughout the operation,” said Chief Fire Officer (CFO) Ajay Sharma.

Sharma told The Indian Express that the family had left their home in Dadri area of Greater Noida for Kithore locality in Meerut. One of the men, Sahil, was driving the car and had connected to Google Maps for navigation, he said.

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While moving through Hapur, he drove through Shyam Nagar locality.

Fireman Sudhir Kumar, who was one of five members of the rescue team, told The Indian Express that Sahil appeared to have taken a wrong route here and went on a congested road passing by a railway overbridge.

He said this is not a common road for commuters and is only used as a shortcut by the locals. Locals know about the drain besides the road and usually only take two-wheelers on the route, Kumar said.

On Sunday, this road was waterlogged and the drain too filled up, officials said.

Kumar further said the driver took the hatchback onto the road and attempted to drive through it when the vehicle skidded into the drain, which was knee deep, around 10 pm.

“While trying to steer it out, the entire car slid into the drain. The area inside was marshy and the car’s wheels got stuck,” the fireman said, adding that the occupants were unable to open the doors.

He told The Indian Express that one of the occupants called the police helpline — 112 — and they alerted the Hapur fire station.

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A team of five led by leading fireman Narendra Singh rushed to the spot. “We could not take a fire tender since it was too narrow. We left the fire engine on the road and walked 800 metres carrying our equipment,” said Kumar.

Describing their rescue efforts, Kumar said, “We tried to free the car by placing bricks under the wheels and digging around the sides of the drain. We finally went into the drain ourselves and managed to lift the vehicle from the rear.”

Later, they called a tractor to pull the vehicle out. By then, it was already around midnight, Kumar said.

The family, meanwhile, had called up their acquaintances who came to the spot and picked them, he added.

Others in the fire team included firemen Jaswant Singh and Chandraveer Singh and driver Praveen Singh.