A FAMILY is devastated at the loss of their “beautiful son” who died in a snorkelling accident while studying abroad.

Jake Samuel Andrews, from Lancing, drowned at the Shark Point site off the islands of Pulau Perhentian in Malaysia on Monday.

The 20-year-old University of Nottingham student was spotted struggling by friends and brought back aboard the dive boat.

He was sent to a clinic on a nearby island but was pronounced dead on arrival.

The student’s father Adrian Andrews said there were “no words” to describe the family’s grief.

The family paid tribute to him on social media saying he was a “beautiful son” and the news was “overwhelmingly devastating”.

Friends remembered him as a “genuine guy” who “always had time for anyone who wanted to talk”.

A Foreign Office spokesman said it was providing consular assistance to his family.

Mr Andrews had been living in Ningbo, China, where his university has a campus after travelling there earlier this year.

A spokeswoman for the university said: “The University has been made aware of the sad death of one of its students.

“We have been liaising with the appropriate agencies to ensure that the family of the deceased receive support at this extremely difficult time.

"We are also offering support to their fellow students both in Malaysia and here in the UK, and would like to offer our condolences to everyone affected by this terrible loss.”

The tragedy happened just two weeks after a mother-of-three, Sharifah Jaafar, 47, drowned while snorkelling off the island.

South Korean doctor Kim Byung Rim, 40, also drowned at the same snorkelling site last July.

District police chief superintendent Khalid Che Lah told the Malaysia Chronicle that Jake was not wearing a life jacket when he got into difficulty in the water.

He added the student’s body has been sent to a hospital in Besut for a post-mortem examination.