Katni, Nov 9 : A high-speed joyride turned fatal when a sedan carrying four young men veered off the road near Sagar Lake, rammed into an auto-rickshaw, and plunged into the deep waters of Laxman Sagar Lake in Madhya Pradesh's Katni town.

The horrific accident, reported around 11.30 p.m. on Saturday under the Bilhari police outpost jurisdiction, snuffed out the lives of two occupants despite desperate attempts to escape.

The victims - Prashant Nayak, Vikas Tiwari, Abhishek Chaurasia, and Aman Tamrakar - were returning to Bilhari from Katni.

Eyewitnesses described the car hurtling at breakneck speed moments before disaster struck.

Just short of the lake, the vehicle lost control, first smashing into an auto-rickshaw stationed on the roadside.

The impact crumpled the auto's front end and sent the sedan spinning uncontrollably into the pond, where it submerged within minutes.

Bilhari outpost in-charge Suyash Pandey confirmed the sequence of events. "Prashant Nayak and Vikas Tiwari died instantly due to the collision's force," he stated.

The other two, Abhishek Chaurasia and Aman Tamrakar, displayed remarkable presence of mind by breaking the car's windowpanes and swimming to safety.

Tragically, exhaustion and the pond's depth overwhelmed the other two before help arrived.

Both drowned before rescuers could intervene. Locals raised the alarm immediately.

Police and emergency teams rushed to the scene, but darkness and the water body's size delayed retrieval.

A crane was summoned and, after hours of effort, hauled the mangled vehicle from the lake bed around 2 a.m. By then, the two survivors had already succumbed.

Authorities have registered a case of rash driving and sent the bodies to Katni District Hospital for post-mortem examination.

Preliminary probes point to excessive speed on the poorly-lit stretch as the primary cause, though skid marks and CCTV footage from nearby establishments are being analysed.

The auto-rickshaw owner has been identified; no passengers were inside at the time.

The incident has shaken Bilhari's tight-knit community, with families of the deceased, aged between 22 and 27, gathering at the hospital in grief.

Local leaders have demanded better lighting, speed breakers, and signage near Laxman Sagar Lake to prevent future tragedies.

/IANS