A junior doctor who worked on the Covid frontline died after going for a late-night swim with friends.
Thirushika Sathialingam, known as Thiru to her friends, was found dead on Margate seafront in the early hours of Saturday September 11.
She is understood to have gone swimming with colleagues, who sounded the alarm after noticing she was missing when they returned to their accommodation.
A major search was launched at 3am involving lifeboat crews, police, firefighters and a coastguard rescue helicopter, and her body was discovered by RNLI volunteers a few hours later.
Thiru, 26, had been working at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) alongside her brother, Kaushaliyan, who is also a junior doctor.
Kaushaliyan said: "I don't think many siblings were as close as we were. We did almost everything together.
"She was a fantastic doctor.
"I don't think she realised how good she was, but it came naturally to her. She was able to think outside the box to get things done for her patients, and she loved that medicine was such a complex subject.
"She was interested in anaesthetics because she enjoyed the scientific approach to it.
"She wanted to be able to do procedures that would make a real difference to people."
Thiru was aspiring to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a consultant anaesthetist at the hospital.
Her father Sathialingam, who retired from the hospital in July, said she was “passionate” about her work and “always had time to listen to people”.
He said: “During the second wave of Covid she was on a respiratory ward with people who had the virus and she would sit and talk to them, holding their hands to give them comfort.”
She was also a talented dancer, performing classical Indian routines at charity events and teaching others.
She loved travelling and would meticulously plan trips around the world and the UK.
Her boyfriend, Peter Speilbichler, who she had met while studying medicine at Riga Stradins University in Latvia, said: "I have had calls from my friends' parents who only met her once or twice, saying how amazing she was and how she lit up the room and made everyone welcome.
"If there was someone who was not part of a group, she would make sure she spoke to them and that they were included and felt comfortable.
"She could get on with everyone and she was always kind and smiling. I never heard anything malicious come out of her mouth, even if she was angry.
"The time we spent together was amazing and I loved everything about her."
East Kent Hospitals' chief executive Susan Acott said her death as a "huge loss" to the Trust, adding that she was a “real shining star” who was known for her “caring nature” and passion for her patients.
She continued: “It is clear she would have had a bright future ahead of her and I have no doubt she had the potential to achieve anything she set her heart on.”
