MYSORE: Thirty people were killed, 28 of them from the same family, when a tempo in which they were travelling fell into the Unabathi Lake near Mandakalli Airport on MysoreOoty road on Tuesday. The victims were returning from a post-wedding feast hosted by the groom's family in Nanjangud. Tragedy struck when the family was returning to Pandavapura, their native place. The bride and bridegroom Pooja (Pallavi) and Lokesh passed the lake in a car while the others were travelling in tempo and another vehicle. The tempo (KA 09 4622), which carried around 33 people, including the driver and cleaner, fell into the lake, killing around 28 people on the spot.
One of family members, Kumara, who lost his mother Sannadevamma, in the accident, said all the deceased belonged to Yeraganahalli, Yelekere, Gummanahalli and Aralakuppe of Pandavapura, Mandya district.
He said that though the incident occurred at around 3.20 pm, no rescue team arrived till 5.30 pm. Kumara and other relatives, who were following the tempo in the other vehicle, jumped into the lake to rescue them.
Unfortunately, they could save only four women as they got no help from the onlookers.
It was chaos as the district police failed to disperse more than 2,500 people gathered there, hampering rescue operations.
Later, fire tenders were able to fish out 27 bodies. A crane was brought to the spot at around 7.30 pm to lift the tempo out of the lake. The highway was blocked for hours after the incident.
Some of deceased include Premamma, Sannadevamma, Brinda, Veena, Jayamma, Ratnamma, Lakshmi (bride's mother), Geetha, Rani, Chinnu (11monthold female child), Chandan (3), Manasa, Devamma, Mahadevamma, Bhaya, Narayana Gowda, Sumathi and Prema.
Among those shifted to K R Hospital, Veena and Geetha are said to be critical. Gagana, who was rescued, is also being treated at the hospital.