Couple drown, baby orphaned
A baby girl will grow up an orphan after a driving lesson ended with her parents dying in a suburban Christchurch lake.
Police pulled the bodies of Avneel and Sheetal Ramfrom the water at Halswell’s Westlake Reserve yesterday, as friends and relatives cried and held each other on the bank.
Avneel Ram, 26, was teaching his 31-year-old wife how to drive when she put her foot on the accelerator instead of the brake, sending the car into the water about 5.40pm on Tuesday.
Avneel Ramwas standing outside the car talking with his wife when the tragic event unfolded.
He swam in after her as the twodoor Toyota Cynos sank below the surface. A witness said Ramdove under three or four times,¯ O then did not resurface.
Sheetal Ramgot her learner’s licence about amonth ago. There were L plates on the windscreens.
The couple, who married little more than 18 months ago, had left their 5-month-old daughter with her grandmother before heading to Halswell.
Several people, including police officers with wetsuits and flippers, later went into the lake with ropes to try to get to the vehicle, but the car was too deep and the water too cold.
A scene guard was in place overnight on Tuesday.
Family and friends gathered by the lake yesterday morning. They doted on the couple’s baby, who was wrapped in a blanket, as police divers searched for her parents and their car.
Sheetal Ram’s body was found in the car about noon. The vehicle was on its roof, six metres below the surface with the doors shut. Avneel Ram’s body was found about two metres away.
Their gathered loved ones formed a guard of honour as police carried the bodies to a waiting hearse.
A crane lifted the car from the lake. The front windscreen was
Sheetal and Avneel Ram
‘‘They fell in love and got married. It’s really hard and shocking for us. We never expected this to happen to our family.’’
Sheetal Ram’s brother-in-law, Hinesh Kumar
damaged. A jacket hung over the open window of the driver’s door.
Police were yet to release the couple’s names, but family confirmed the Rams were the victims.
Sheetal Ram’s brother-in-law, Hinesh Kumar, said the couple were ‘‘really friendly and kind people’’.
Avneel Ramwas well-known in the Fijian-Indian community and ran an air-conditioning business. The couple married in February 2016, about a year after Sheetal Ram moved to New Zealand from Fiji.
‘‘They fell in love and got married,’’ Kumar said.
‘‘It’s really hard and shocking for us. We never expected this to happen to our family.’’
Canterbury metro area commander Superintendent Lane Todd said it was ‘‘ a very tragic event for the wider family’’.
A friend of the missing couple said Sheetal Ramhad only recently got her learner driver licence.
‘‘He was trying to teach her how to drive here and instead of putting her foot on the brake she put her foot on the accelerator and the car went into the water.’’
Todd said the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash was ongoing.
‘‘Our sympathies go to these families.’’