51-year-old missing
Family tragedy on vacation: Father saves son from Lake Garda and goes under himself
When a father jumped into Lake Garda to save his son, he drowned himself. Since then, the 51-year-old has been missing (symbol photo).
© ZUMA Wire / Imago Images
“He was a hero,” said the Coast Guard at Lake Garda of the 51-year-old Briton. When he tried to save his son from the water, the father went under himself and probably drowned.
For a family from England, a holiday in Italy ended in tragedy. When 51-year-old Aran Chada tried to save his son from the water, he went under himself and has been missing ever since. The Coastguard believes the Loughborough sales manager drowned.
Family traveling by boat on Lake Garda
As several media reports, the family of four rented a boat on Friday and drove to Lake Garda. The older son left the boat near the town of Limone to go into the water. A little later, the 14-year-old had difficulties swimming. His father immediately jumped in to pull his son out of the water.
“He managed to get the boy back to the boat, where he was pulled in by his mother,” said Antonello Ragadale, a Coast Guard commander of the “Times“. Just a few seconds later, the father of the family went under himself. Witnesses to the incident alerted the emergency services.
Unsuccessful search on Lake Garda
“We were about 100 meters from shore when we heard a woman screaming for help. I looked over and she was on a boat with two children who were screaming and pointing at the water,” one of the witnesses told the “361 magazines“Lifeboats, helicopters, divers and a robotic submarine searched for Aran Chada well into the night – without success. Due to an approaching storm, the search finally had to be stopped and resumed the following day.
Ragadale suspects the Briton suffered a cold shock when he jumped into the lake. At the time, the water was ten degrees colder than the outside temperature. “You have to go into the water slowly and carefully,” Ragadale said. However, that was not possible for Chada. “He did what any father would have done for his son.” He was a hero. The Coast Guard assumes that the Brit drowned. “We’re doing everything we can to find his body,” the commander assured.
According to “361 Magazine”, this is the third death in Lake Garda in the past week. Two men aged 36 and 41 drowned in front of the 52-year-old Briton.
Sources: “361 magazines“, “TheTimes“, “t-online“