A call to 911 was not enough to save a Missouri City couple.

“Missouri City Police report that as a result of an apparent accidental occurrence on Wednesday, December 10, the bodies of a man and a woman have been recovered with their vehicle from a lake in Missouri City,” said Barbara Brescian, spokesperson for Missouri City.

Brescian said the police department received a 911 call about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, December 10, 2008. The frantic female caller, Leelamma Mathai, 54 of Missouri City, shouted at the 911 operator,”the lake!” trying to identify where she and her husband, Joseph Mathai, 60, had plunged into the lake in their Toyota Highlander. Unable to determine where the call was coming from, Missouri City police contacted Harris County who operates mapping software that can triangulate the general area from where cell phone calls are received.

Police Captain John Bailey said with that information police were able to determine the couple was probably in a vehicle in one of five lakes in the Lake Shore Harbour subdivision near Kitty Hawk Park in far east Missouri City.

Police and fire personnel from Missouri City, Sugar Land, Houston, Richmond, and the US Coast Guard, worked tirelessly for hours searching the lakes said Brecsian. The couple’s bodies were discovered about 3:00 p.m., Thursday, inside their SUV, submerged in 20 feet of water about 40 feet from the shore off Palm Harbour, just blocks from their Porofino home.

According to police, the Mathai couple had been on their way home from work at the time of the accident. Making the search even more trying for authorities, there were no tracks or indicators evident at the edge of any of the lakes in the area. Brescian said the weather and murky water conditions made the search even more difficult.

Although the incident remains under investigation, it appears as though the Mathais’ perished as the result of an accident.