A 29-year-old man died suddenly in his Dungannon home on Friday – hours before he was set to celebrate his birthday.
Augustine Chacko, originally from Changanassery in the Kottayam district of Kerala, India, had been living in Dungannon, where he was employed as a healthcare worker.
The alarm was raised on Friday afternoon, December 19, after a female friend in India grew concerned and contacted one of Mr. Chacko’s friends in Dungannon.
When they arrived at the property, they found the house locked from the inside. When they gained entry into the property, Mr. Chacko was discovered unresponsive.
His sudden passing has been met with shock, both in the local Dungannon community and the Kerala expatriate network.
Heartbreakingly, friends of the young man had been preparing for his 30th birthday celebration which would have taken place on Saturday, December 20.
“We were actually in the process of making his birthday cake when we received the news,” a close friend told Armagh I.
“Everything was ready for the celebration. It is hard to believe he is gone.”
The PSNI attended the scene, and the body has since been moved to Belfast for a post-mortem examination to determine the exact cause of death.
There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the sudden death, police confirmed.
Mr. Chacko’s remains are expected to be repatriated to his home country at the conclusion of the post-mortem.
