Brit hero dad feared dead after diving into lake to save son on Italy holiday
A "hero" Brit dad is feared to have drowned after jumping into a lake to save his son while on a family holiday in Italy.
Aran Chada, a 51-year-old oil executive from near Loughborough, Leicestershire vanished after leaping into Lake Garda to rescue his 14-year-old son, initiating a desperate search.
The teen had got into difficulty while swimming off a boat the family had hired before his dad managed to drag him to the boat and his mum pulled him back on board.
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But Mr Chada, a sales director, began to struggle for breath in the country's largest lake as his distraught partner watched her husband slip beneath the surface.
A coastguard commander told the Sunday Times the dad possibly suffered a "seizure" due to "thermal shock" as the water was ten degrees colder than the air temperature on Friday afternoon.
A coastguard spokesman said the family had rented the boat for two and a half hours and were due to return it shortly before the incident.
They told how it was "very hot on Friday afternoon but the water was a good ten degrees colder…it's possible he could have had a seizure due to the thermal shock."
It is reported that Mr Chada had been celebrating his birthday with his partner, Holly Mosley, 39, and son and seven-year-old daughter.
The rented boat was around 500m from the shore, coastguard commander Antonello Ragadale said.
Mr Ragadale said Ms Mosley scream's alerted other boats to the emergency, with an eyewitness reporting hearing a woman screaming and pointing into the water.
The coastguard and a rescue team, including a helicopter and divers, raced to the scene and rescue efforts were said to have continued late into Friday night and resumed on Saturday.
A robot submarine was said to have been deployed to search the deep lake, which has a maximum depth of 346m in places.
The family were said to be in a hotel and being offered support from police and a psychologist.
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Mr Ragadale said: "This man was a hero and we fear he drowned, but we’re doing everything we can to find his body.
"This is a real tragedy, and the desperation in their faces was evident.
"He did what any father would have done for his son."
Holly’s brother James told the Sun: “It's devastating. What my sister and the family is going through is unimaginable.”
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