The car sank within 60 seconds, says the general manager of Islander 71, a restaurant in the Isle of Palms Marina in South Carolina. Last weekend, a visiting couple in their sixties dined at the place. It was after dark. After finishing their meal, they hopped in their SUV and followed the route recommended by GPS. Unfortunately, it led them right onto a boat ramp and into the water.

Christopher Sollom, Islander 71’s general manager, praised bartender Johnny, a former lifeguard, for his immediate action. The staffer jumped into the water without hesitation.

Between Johnny and another restaurant employee, “Cash,” the couple quickly escaped the sinking vehicle. The SUV’s windows were open, making for a swift rescue. 

Still, the vehicle totally flooded in mere seconds. “By the time I got here, the car was submerged underwater,” Sollom recalled to ABC News 4. “It was a matter of 60 seconds from when someone got me upstairs to when I ran downstairs.”

The dive team with the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office recovered the vehicle the next day. The SUV will most likely be totaled from water submersion. The couple is physically fine, but who wouldn’t be shaken by such an intensely dangerous scenario?

This isn’t the first time a GPS system led an out-of-town driver to a boat ramp and into the water at night. Reddit is chock-full of posts showing news stories and clips of the problem. As you can imagine, several took place in Hawaii.

Last year, a woman says she mistook the water for a “big puddle” when she followed her GPS into a Hawaiian harbor.

Another tourist following GPS directions mistakenly drives car into Hawaii harbor
byu/MEGAT0N innottheonion