A “bright and funny” student drowned on a day out as he and his friends swam in a lake on a warm day, an inquest has heard.
The body of Ashamekh Bortata, 17, from Liverpool, was found a day after he got into difficulty in the water at Chirk Castle, near Wrexham.
He and six friends had travelled to Chirk by train, intending to travel on to nearby Llangollen, but were advised to visit the castle after realising they could not easily get there.
After walking around the castle, they later found a fenced-off woodland and lake.
Some of the group swam to a boat while the teenager, who initially stayed on a pontoon, jumped in and tried to swim to them before calling out for help.
John Gittins, coroner for north Wales east and central, told the hearing how one of the young men called the emergency services, saying his friend was drowning and that he had tried to help him but had lost his grip.
Police attended and an air search was also carried out to try to locate him.
The body of the student, who was born in Libya, was recovered by a member of an underwater search team the following day.
In a statement, Soulaiman Bortata said his son, who had two siblings, was an “excellent and popular” A level student at Liverpool Life Sciences University Technical College.
He said he was talented in maths and sciences and had ambitions to study engineering at University College London.
Soulaiman Bortata described the teenager as a “caring, bright and funny son”, who was interested in fitness and going to the gym, and loved to cook for his family.
“We all miss him very much,” he said.
Mr Gittins recorded his cause of death as drowning and a conclusion of misadventure.
“I am conscious he is a young man who is very much missed by all who loved him,” he said.
