'Indian-Origin Financial Professional Died In Prank Gone Wrong In Portugal'

A UK-based Indian-origin financial expert drowned after going overboard during a prank gone wrong while on a stag party river cruise he organised for his friend in Portugal, a court in London has heard. 

 

Nishanthan Gnanathas, who was the best man at his friend's wedding, hit his head on the railing when he was pushed from a yacht into the River Tagus in Lisbon as part of a prank in July this year.

 

"I accept the cause of death as immersion in water. My final conclusion is that I am entirely satisfied that this was misadventure," said Coroner Fiona Wilcox at an inquest hearing into his death at Westminster Coroner's Court on Wednesday.

 

"I am satisfied on the balance of probabilities that whatever happened was very quick and that Nish suffered some sort of physical shock and suffered respiratory arrest and couldn't breath because of the water. What happened must have been very sharp and very sudden. He was a young, fit man and had been able to jump off the pier in similar circumstances the day before," she said.

 

According to 'The Sun', the 31-year-old was part of a group of 13 friends during the party cruise in July to celebrate Youseff Ismail's wedding the previous year.

 

"Nish was my best man. He organised the trip to go to Portugal as a stag do. Nish ended up in the water and hit his head on the way in. Everyone was like 'oooh'. I jumped in, so did Andre, but we couldn't find him. I think we were on our first beer," Ismail told the court.