Update: this article has been updated to reflect the fact that Zubeen Garg was swimming, not scuba diving, when he died.
Indian singer and Bollywood star Zubeen Garg has died at the age of 52 while swimming in Singapore.
Although early reports suggested he died while scuba diving, authorities have since confirmed the singer was swimming, after footage of him doing so was posted on social media.
Speaking of the incident, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that 18 people, including Garg, had booked a yacht trip to go swimming on Friday, 19 September, before performing at the festival later that evening.
According to witnesses, and confirmed by the footage, he jumped into the water wearing a lifejacket, but returned to the boat just over a minute later to take it off.
Reports have cited Garg as saying he was finding it difficult to swim ‘due to the jacket being oversized’. He subsequently became ‘unwell’ and was pulled from the water and given CPR before being transported to Singapore General Hospital.
Despite efforts to save him, Garg was declared dead at around 2.30 pm. His cause of death has been recorded as drowning by the Singapore High Commission.
Garg, born Zubeen Borthakur in the north Indian state of Assam, rose to fame in the 1990s through his work in the Bollywood, Assamese and Bengali film and music industries.
He became a household name across India with his hit song ‘Ya Ali’ in the 2006 Hindi-language romantic thriller Gangster.
‘Today, Assam lost one of its favourite sons,’ said chief minister Sarma, speaking after Garg’s death was announced. ‘I am at a loss for words to describe what Zubeen meant for Assam. He has gone too early; this was not an age to go.’
Garg’s body has since been returned to India. Two days of national mourning have been declared before his expected cremation on Wednesday, 23 September.
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