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Body found of British man who died saving son in Italy's Lake Garda

Aran Chada
Aran Chada

The body of a British man who jumped from a boat to save his drowning son has been found in Italy.

Aran Chada was on holiday with his partner and two children in Lake Garda when his son Roman, 14, got into difficulties off the coast of the resort of Limone on July 22 after the family had rented a boat.

"The mother screamed and the father jumped into the water," a witness told local media.

He saved his son but then disappeared near the boat, Holly Mosley, 39, Mr Chada’s partner, told authorities after phoning 112, the European emergency number.

The local coastguard said volunteers found Mr Chada’s body on Tuesday, and his family will return to Italy from the UK to formally identify him.

The family had taken a trip to celebrate Mr Chada’s 52nd birthday.

Drowning blamed on 'illness' following rescue

The coastguard immediately sent one of its boats to the area but despite a search involving divers, a helicopter and volunteers, Mr Chada was not found for several weeks.

Volunteers found Mr Chada’s body at a depth of 1,037 ft and 2,625ft from the coast of Limone with the help of specialist underwater robot and sonar equipment.

This was "more or less in the area where he was seen sinking", the coastguard said and blamed the drowning on “an illness" following the rescue of his son.

Officials suspect he suffered a hypothermic shock as the water was so cold compared to the temperature on the surface. He was the third person to die in the lake that week.

Since Mr Chada’s death another tourist has died in Lake Garda, Italy's largest lake, where the water is often cold and reaches depths of 350 metres.

'This man is a hero'

Antonio Ragadale, coastguard commander, told MailOnline: "It was a complicated and difficult search but we had promised to find his body so his family could be reunited with him.

"It was the least we could do because he had been so brave in diving into the lake when he saw his son get into trouble.”

He added after the nearly month-long search, “this man was a hero and at last now he can be reunited with his family. We had vowed we would carry on for the sake of them and we have done our duty”.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: "We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in north Italy and are in contact with the local authorities."