Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jul 12: In an accident which occurred on the night of Sunday July 10 at Kenchanakere village near Mulky, the driver of a pick-up tempo vehicle died after the vehicle went out of his control, veered to the side of the road and jumped into a pond.

The deceased has been identified as Laxman Poojary (50), who belonged to Kapikadu in Pakshikere village. After the vehicle fell into the pond, the driver got stuck in the vehicle and could not wriggle himself out of trouble. Poojary is survived by wife and two children.

Laxman had left his home at 8.30 pm on Sunday to run his vehicle on hire assignment. At around 9 pm the same day, he had called his wife to inform that he would be back by 10.30 pm. As he did not come home till midnight, family members called his cellphone and found that it had been switched off.

On Monday morning, some locals found that protective wall by the side of the road had been broken and a vehicle was inside the pond at Kenchanakere. They conveyed this information to Mulky police. It appears that the steering rod would have suddenly snapped, and the vehicle would have moved erratically before hitting the sidewall and plunging into the pond. Mulky police and traffic police then sought help from the fire brigade personnel here, who went to Kenchakere and brought out the vehicle and body of its driver out of the pond.

A case was registered in Mulky station and investigation was taken up. Due to these developments, traffic on main road between Mulky and Kinnigoly and also inner roads in the locality remained paralyzed for over two hours.

Deputy commissioner of police, Sanjeev Patil, assistant commissioner of police, Uday Nayak, Tippeswamy of fire brigade, Manjunath of Suratkal traffic police station and Mulky police inspector, Ramachandra Nayak, visited the spot and guided relief operations.