A BRIT dad feared to have drowned after leaping into Lake Garda to save his 14-year-old son while holidaying in Italy has been hailed a “hero”.
A huge search has been launched to find Aran Chada, 51, who disappeared after diving into the country’s largest lake to rescue the teen.
A Brit dad has gone missing and is presumed drowned in Lake Garda[/caption]
The sales director had been enjoying a boat trip with his partner, son and seven-year-old daughter when disaster struck.
They were around 500m from shore on the rented pleasure boat when Aran noticed the teen had got into trouble in the water.
The courageous dad was able to save the youngster and get him back to the boat, where his frantic mother dragged him back on board.
But Aran then slipped beneath the surface after “perhaps suffering a seizure” as his horrified family watched on, coastguard commander Antonello Ragadale said.
The mum’s screams for help alerted other boats and a coastguard unit which raced to the scene by the lakeside town of Limone.
A team of rescue boats, helicopters, divers and even a robot submarine were deployed to Lake Garda to help locate Aran.
They spent hours searching the lake, which is up to 300m deep in some places, but found no trace of the 51-year-old.
Rescue efforts continued late in Friday night as the woman, her 14-year-old and a five-year-old daughter waited for an update on their father’s condition.
READ MORE WORLD NEWS
Aran – who is reported to be a company director in the oil industry and was set to celebrate his birthday next Tuesday, according to the Daily Mail – was staying at the nearby four star hotel Hotel du Lac et Du Parc at Riva del Garda.
It’s feared the hero Brit dad will be the third person to drown at Lake Garda in a week after two men – aged 36 and 41 – died in separate incidents.
An eyewitness told local media: “We were about 100m from the shore when we heard a woman screaming for help.
“I looked over and she was on a boat with two children shouting and pointing to the water so we called the emergency services and they were there very quickly.”
Most read in The Sun
Officials believe the man may have suffered from a thermal shock seizure caused by the cold water.
Coastguard units, a firefighting boat, and several volunteer vessels were used in the search while a helicopter scanned the water.
A robot camera and a specialist team of divers were deployed to scour the bed of the lake.
Lake Garda coastguard commander Antonello Ragadale told MailOnline the search for the missing Brit “went on for several hours on Friday until it got dark and started again at first light on Saturday”.
He said the windy weather was hampering search teams who were “pressing on for as long as it takes so we can give some comfort to the poor woman and her children”.
The coastguard said: “The whole family are very upset and have been offered counselling while the search goes on and the British consulate has been informed.
“The water goes down to more than 200m in some places so we are using divers and underwater robots.
“The father was very brave in what he did. He saw his child in danger and he did what any parent would do and tried to save them which he did but sadly it would appear that he has lost his life.”
Lake Garda is a popular tourist spot in northern Italy known for its breath-taking scenery and dramatic mountain landscape.
Brits flock to the plush spot every year and former PM Theresa May is known to be a regular visitor.
A coastguard spokesman said: “The family has rented a boat from a local company for two and a half hours and were due to return it a little before the accident.
“The man dived in to save his eldest child who was in difficulty and he managed to push him back towards the boat but he then got into trouble.
“It was very hot on Friday afternoon but the water was a good ten degrees colder so it’s possible he could have had a seizure due to the thermal shock.
Read More on The Sun
“The search went on for almost seven hours and stopped when it got dark but has now resumed. The family are in their hotel with police and a psychologist has been offered to them for support.”
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said the department was supporting the man’s family and were in contact with Italian police.
