Colleagues distraught at drowning of ‘kind-hearted soul’

A man who died in hospital after being rescued from a remote Ku-ring-gai beach has been remembered by distraught co-workers as a jovial presence who was always awarded best-dressed at the annual Melbourne Cup luncheon.

Kaushik Chatterjee, 45, died in Northern Beaches Hospital on Monday night.

Kaushik Chatterjee in one of his prize-winning Melbourne Cup day outfits. He drowned at a remote Sydney beach on Saturday.

He was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition on Saturday afternoon after being pulled unconscious from the water at Flint and Steel Beach in the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park in Sydney’s north.

Emergency services had earlier staged an intricate rescue effort that involved ferrying Chatterjee by water to a nearby port because the beach can only be accessed via a steep bushland trail.

Kaushik Chatterjee has been remembered for his kind-hearted and jovial personality.

Sagar Raut was one of four friends with Chatterjee at the beach at the time he got into strife.

Raut said his Chatterjee’s death had created a “profound emptiness” for those that knew him.

“Kaushik was the most kind-hearted soul I ever met in my life,” Raut said.

“He was a person who always kept other peoples’ happiness over his … he lived passionately and his zest for life was an inspiration to us all.”

Chatterjee had been employed at the Macquarie Park office of Whiting Holdings Australia since 2019.

His devastated colleagues were being offered counselling after receiving the news of Chatterjee’s death this week.

“Naturally, everyone within his immediate team is very upset, and we expect that everyone in our company will be trying to deal with this tragic loss in their own way,” said chief financial officer Richard Barclay.

Barclay said Chatterjee was well-liked for his jovial personality and would be missed dearly by his co-workers.

There was no competing with Chatterjee’s suave outfit choices each Melbourne Cup day, Barclay added.

“He always participated in corporate events with enthusiasm and usually won the best dressed prize,” Barclay said.

Chatterjee is survived by his elderly parents and siblings who reside in India.