Body of British father who drowned saving his son found in Italian lake

The body of 51-year-old Aran Chada, who drowned in Lake Garda in Italy after saving his 14-year-old son, has been found after weeks of search operations.

The family, which hails from Leicestershire, UK, was on a trip to Italy when the tragedy occurred. They had rented a boat on the day of the incident to celebrate Chada's upcoming birthday.

They were around 500 metres from the shore when Chada's wife, Holly Mosley, noticed that her son had gotten into some trouble in the water. Chada immediately jumped in to help his son. "The mother shouted and the father jumped into the water," a witness told the local press.

Chada managed to bring his son back to the boat, but disappeared under the water before his family could even grasp what was happening to him. The coastguard said that his drowning was "probably caused by an illness."

They had earlier said that he may have suffered a thermal shock seizure since the temperature outside was around 38ºC, but the water was "a good 10 degrees colder," per a BBC report.

A team of coastguards and diving specialists armed with a robot and sonar equipment searched for his body for almost a month before they finally spotted it at a depth of 300 metres.

The search operation also involved police, a helicopter, and naval and firefighter dive teams. It continued for days without a break, except for the days when bad weather halted work.

"Thanks to the professionalism shown in this context and the equipment supplied to them, the volunteers of Lake Garda managed to locate the body of Mr. Chada on Tuesday afternoon, 16 August 2022," the coastguard said.

According to his LinkedIn page, Chada worked for Global Energy Ventures, a company that services oil fields in Africa. Chada's family had returned to the UK just a few days ago. They are now expected to come back to Italy soon to identify his body.