RUSKIN, Neb. (AP) — Authorities say a 44-year-old man drowned after his car ran into a sewer lagoon in south-central Nebraska.

The accident occurred a little before1 p.m. Sunday about a mile east of Ruskin. Nuckolls County Attorney Tim Schmidt says Donavon Holtzen, of Belvidere, was westbound on U.S. Highway 136 when his vehicle left the roadway, burst through a wire fence and into the lagoon.

Schmidt told The Associated Press on Monday that two passers-by saw the vehicle appear to float in the liquid and saw Holtzen get out one of the vehicle windows and try to swim to safety. Schmidt estimates the vehicle was about 30 feet from shore.