Tributes have been paid to a Briton who is believed to have drowned in Italy’s Lake Garda after diving in to rescue his son.
Aran Chada, a 51-year-old sales manager from Leicestershire, is believed to have had a seizure when he jumped from a boat into the water.
Chada was on holiday with her partner Holly Mosley, 39, their 14-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter.
The family had been on a rented boat last Friday when Chada saw her son struggling in the water and jumped in to try to rescue him. He helped the boy back to the boat but then disappeared under the water.
Neighbors in the village of Woodhouse Eaves, near Loughborough, spoke of their shock at the news on Monday.
Jon Lowe, an electrician, told the Daily Mail: “Aran was a brilliant guy, always funny. He was the best neighbor we could ask for.
“He always had a ready smile. We’ve been neighbors for 12 years and throughout that time they’ve been such a friendly family – always stopping to say a word or chat to you if you saw them in town.
“This is a shock, especially because he’s always been such a fit guy. He used to go to the gym a lot and he liked to keep fit.”
Another man, who declined to give his name, said: “They have been part of the village for years. It’s very, very tragic.”
The Coast Guard believed Chada may have suffered a heat stroke. On Friday, temperatures were around 38C, but the water was described as “about 10 degrees cooler”.
Antonello Ragadale, the commander of the coastguard, told the Times: “This man was a hero and we fear he drowned, but we are doing everything we can to find his body.
“Divers arrived with helicopters, but there was little they could do because a steep rocky shelf drops to a great depth at this point.
“A remote-controlled mini-submarine from the civil protection agency was lowered and searched for the man late into the night, but without success.”
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Ragadale added that Chada was “very brave in what she did”.
“He saw his son in danger and he did what any parent would do and tried to save them, which he did,” he said.
The Foreign Office said in a statement: “We are supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Italy and are in contact with the Italian police.”