British family's heartbreak as body of father is found two days after his son, 11, drowned when they got into trouble swimming off Malta

A British man has been found dead off the coast of Malta, two days after his 11-year-old son drowned while the pair were swimming during a family holiday. The 37-year-old's body was discovered following an extensive search operation involving Maltese police, the armed forces and local rescue teams. His son had been pulled from the water earlier in the week after getting into difficulty while swimming at Ramla Bay. The mother of the boy was on the beach with her two other younger children when her son drowned and her husband went missing on Monday. The British family of Pakistani origin had been enjoying the final hours of a Malta holiday when the tragedy struck. Other family members are understood to have flown out to Malta on Tuesday to support them. Police were alerted at around 1.15pm, and the Armed Forces of Malta and Civil Protection Department launched an intensive search using dinghies and a helicopter. The boy was pulled from the water and treated at the scene before being taken to Gozo General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later. The Meteorological Office had issued a warning about strong north-west winds hitting Malta on Monday. The 11-year-old's death marks the 16th drowning since the start of the year. It comes after a British tourist died while swimming in Malta's famed Blue Lagoon after using a slide on a tourist boat in September. The 43-year-old had taken the slide down into the water at around 1.30pm before finding himself struggling in the lagoon, located in Comino. A number of travellers spotted he was underwater before pulling him up to the surface of the water and beginning CPR, reports Times of Malta. Volunteer first aiders from Malta's Emergency Response and Rescue Corps (ERRC) quickly arrived at the scene and took over efforts to save him. They carried the unnamed man to Mgarr Harbour in Gozo where a hospital medical team was waiting, but he was tragically pronounced dead upon arrival at Victoria Hospital. According to local reports, following the incident, Magistrate Brigitte Sultana is holding an inquiry. Just a month earlier, a 35-year-old Italian man died after getting into difficulty, while also at the Blue Lagoon in August. In April the body of a 71-year-old fisherman was found off the coast of Comino, hours after he was reported missing. And a Spanish tourist sustained grievous injuries in July after she was hit by a boat propeller as she was boarding a boat in Comino, a popular destination for tourists.