A newly married couple had a brush with death when a Maruti 800 car they were travelling in fell into Shetty Lake, popularly known as Mandakalli lake on Mysore-Nanjangud road on Thursday.

The couple have been identified as Vijay, aged 33 years, and wife S Nagashree, 27, residents of LIG first stage, Kuvempunagar in the city. Vijay works as administrative assistant at JSS Mahavidyapeetha, while his wife is a MTech student.

The incident occurred around 10.45 am when the two were returning to the city from Devirammanahalli in Nanjangud taluk. The couple who married three months ago had gone to the village to visit Sarvamangalamma, the maternal grandmother of Vijay.

In his statement to South police, Vijay has said that he pulled the steering of the car to left to avoid hitting an oncoming vehicle. In the process, he landed in the water. The bonnet of the car had almost immersed in water, when the mechanics at a nearby garage came to their help. They were pulled out to safety through the window of the four-wheeler. A family that resides on the other side of the lake offered clothes for the couple to change.

Same spot

Police said that it was the same spot where a Tamil Nadu bound vehicle had fallen into the water in the lake several months ago. The very patch has been left uncovered without stones, leaving it vulnerable to vehicles that have continued to plunge into the lake. The car was later pulled out with the help of fire and emergency services personnel.
Grim reminder

Whenever vehicles fall into the lakes on Mysore-Nanjangud road, it acts as a grim reminder of the ghastly mishap at Undabaththi tank that claimed 31 lives. A maxicab fell into the tank on December 15, 2010, triggering the demand for metal crash barriers around the water body. While the crash guard metal barriers were installed at Undabatti tank, the authorities concerned are still dithering over installing the same at Shetty and Dalvoy lakes on the same stretch.

Rider killed

A two-wheeler rider was killed on spot after a tipper lorry rammed into his vehicle near Chikkahalli on Mysore-T Narsipura road on Thursday.

The deceased is identified as Syed Sartaj, a two-wheeler mechanic and resident of Ashraya Layout, Kollegal in neighbouring Chamarajanagar district.

The tipper lorry proceeding towards T Narsipura rammed into a milk tanker of Tamil Nadu, before hitting the two-wheeler around 1 pm. While the rider was thrown off killing him instantly on the spot, the vehicle (two-wheeler) was dragged up to forty feet before coming to a halt, said police. Driver abandoned the lorry before fleeing from the spot. South police have registered a case.