Tributes paid to father-of-one who died in hospital after being pulled from water

Aman Sharma, who worked as a chef at Kebab Mahal in Dalkeith, got into difficulty in the water while visiting the Stirlingshire beauty spot on Sunday, 25 July.

The 35-year-old, from Edinburgh was recovered from the water and transferred to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow where he later died.

His friend Kawaldeep Singh has paid tribute to Mr Sharma, who leaves behind an eight-year-old daughter.

Aman Sharma, who worked as a chef at Kebab Mahal in Dalkeith, got into difficulty the loch on Sunday, 25 July.

"He was a fantastic person,” Mr Singh said.

"I’ve known him for about ten years and he was like a brother to me.

"He always tried to encourage people to work hard and do something good with their life.

"Since his death, many people, particularly those who knew him from where he worked, have messaged me to say how nice he was as a person and how sad they are to hear about his death.

"He really wanted the best for people.”

Mr Singh said several people tried to help his friend after he struggled to stay above water.

Speaking about the incident, Mr Singh said: "The loch was busy with tourists and locals swimmers and everyone tried to help him, but unfortunately we were not able to pull him out from the water in time.

“At one point his body disappeared for about ten to 15 minutes, and then we saw Aman’s body floating and we then manged to pull him out, but he was unconscious and wasn’t breathing.

“After a few minutes one doctor and member of the fire brigade from the crowd came and gave CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation] until a medical assistant arrived.

"They tried their best, but there was no movement from Aman.

“A doctor from the intensive care unit told us that he had a severe brain injury from a lack of oxygen, and he died on Tuesday.”

Mr Singh has set up a Gofundme page to raise money to send his friend’s body back to Mr Sharma’s family in India where his parents live and where he grew up.

He said: “Aman's last visit to India to meet his parents was in 2017.

"His parents have not seen him for the last four years, and it is their wish to see their son one last time.”

The fundraiser has currently raised almost £5,500 of a £10,000 target.

Mr Sharma is one of seven people to have died in drowning incidents in Scotland in the last week.

Connor Markward, 16, from Glasgow, died on Friday afternoon at Loch Lomond while Edina Olahova, 29, her son Rana Haris Ali, 9, and friend Mohammad Asim Raza, 41, died at the same loch the following day.

An 11-year-old boy, named locally as Dean Irvine, was pulled from the water at the Alexander Hamilton Memorial Park in Stonehouse, Lanarkshire on Saturday afternoon, where he was pronounced dead at the scene.

And a 13-year-old boy’s body was recovered from the River Clyde at Hazelbank in Lanarkshire.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon paid tribute to the families of the drowning victims, describing the incidents as “heartbreaking”, and urged the public to take care when swimming in lochs and rivers.

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