Driver, 18, froze to death after Google Maps sat nav wrong turn left him and pal stranded in -50C weather for a WEEK
A TEENAGER froze to death in brutal -50C weather after his sat nav told him to take a wrong turn on Russia’s notorious Road of Bones.
The Google Maps instructions sent him on a disused shortcut across the world’s coldest inhabited region, according to reports.
Sergey Ustinov and friend Vladislav Istomin, both 18, got stranded when their radiator was damaged by a wooden spike on the snow-covered road.
They had not taken precautions for the extreme conditions, and quickly suffered frostbite.
Sergey was found frozen solid in his Toyota Chaser, while his friend was miraculously alive but suffering from acute hypothermia.
Medics are now trying to save him, with his arms and legs acutely frostbitten.
“His condition is extremely grave, we are fighting for his life,” said a doctor.
The pair had been driving from the world’s coldest city Yakutsk to the port of Magadan, on a Stalin-era highway known as the Road of Bones.
A quarter of a million people died during its construction by political prisoners.
The route on Yandex Maps - a Russian service - shows a distance of 1,900 km (1,180 miles) on the Kolyma federal highway through Ust-Nera.
But they followed Google Maps, which offered a shorter route via Tomtor of 1,733 km (1,076 miles) across snow covered terrain.
This road was abandoned in the 1970s, according to reports citing the police investigation.
After getting stuck on an abandoned road, they built a small fire and burned a tyre to keep warm.
They were apparently unable to use their phones to contact emergency services.
It is unclear when Sergey died, but his friend remained alive for several days until he was found by police after a search was launched.
"A policeman went to Tomtor, because there was information that they were seen there,” said Investigative Committee official Nadezhda Dvoretskaya.
“He started searching with two local residents, and at night they found the car."
She added: “The men tried to keep warm, and burned a tyre.
“But apparently, they couldn't make a big fire.
“And they couldn't remove the rest of the tyres.”
The teenagers had earlier driven from Magadan to Yakutsk, and were on the return journey.
Locals were shocked that they had no warm clothes for the deep Siberian winter.
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“They were city guys,” said a local. “That’s why they wore trainers.
“Now it is very cold here, not yet -60C but at night and in the morning it reaches -57C, and during the day it warms up to -51C.”
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Normally single cars never venture out in winter. They go in pairs in case one breaks down.
