British Man Missing After Diving into Lake Como to Rescue Teenager
Italian authorities are searching for a British man who went missing after diving into Lake Como to rescue a teenager.
The local coastguard said the man, in his late thirties, had been attempting to rescue two people - a father and his 16-year-old son - who were in distress in the water near the lake's western shore on Monday afternoon, local officials said.
The man, who was friends with the family, had been on a boating trip with them at the time, the coastguard said. The father and son were later rescued by a passing boat, but the man has not been seen again.
The UK Foreign Office stated: "We are supporting the family of a British national missing in Italy and are in contact with the local authorities."
A helicopter, divers, and boat units from the fire department, coastguard, and state police have been deployed to aid in the search. As the lake's depth can reach over 250m in the search area, underwater robots will also be utilized to scan the lake bed where it becomes too deep for divers.
The alarm was raised around 13:30 local time (12:30 BST) on Monday when the man noticed his friend and the boy struggling to swim. He jumped in to help, but sank beneath the surface. The teenager's mother, who had remained on the boat with her younger son, called emergency services when she witnessed the incident.
The father and son were transferred to a coastguard boat and received medical treatment for hypothermia. The mother and younger son, adrift around 600m from shore at that point, were also brought back to land.
The coastguard initially stated that it was the father who had jumped in to save his son and the 37-year-old man, but later revised its account of events.
Lake Como, approximately 30 miles north of Milan, is a popular tourist destination, attracting over 78,000 foreign visitors in 2024, according to local chamber of commerce research. However, water temperatures begin to drop from September onward.