Family and friends are mourning the deaths of a Washington state couple who died while snorkeling on vacation in Hawaii.
The couple was found unresponsive by first responders near the north side of Āhihi-Kīnaʻu Natural Area Reserve on Maui.
Family members identified the couple on their verified GoFundMe page as 25-year-old Ilya Tsaruk and 26-year-old Sophia Tsaruk. Sophia Tsaruk was pregnant and the couple also had an 18-month-old son who was not with them at the time of their deaths, according to the GoFundMe page.
Firefighters and ocean safety personnel responded to a report of swimmers in distress in the area on Sept. 14 just after 12 p.m., according to a release from Maui County Fire.
Sophia Tsaruk was found unresponsive in the water about 100-150 yards from the shore, officials said. Emergency responders on a jet ski brought her to land for CPR, then went back out to search for her husband.
Ilya Tsaruk was found “on the bottom” of the ocean floor and was also brought to shore for CPR but both were ultimately pronounced dead at the scene, according to the release.
Local NBC affiliate KING reports the couple lived in Snohomish, Washington, according to public records. The two will be remembered in a celebration of life on Sept. 26 and a burial service Sept. 27 in Washington, according to the GoFundMe.
Maui County Fire declined to comment when asked if police were investigating the incident and the local police department did not immediately respond to TODAY.com’s request for comment.
In an interview with local news outlet KITV, family members said the Tsaruks traveled to Hawaii for a babymoon with two other couples, including Ilya Tsaruk’s brother and his wife.
They decided to go snorkeling on the first full day of their vacation and were wearing full face snorkel masks at the time of the incident, family said.
“We don’t think that she suffocated in the mask,” Ilya Tsaruk’s brother Anatoliy Tsaruk told KITV. “It might’ve just played a role in scaring her to panic. Everything is just speculation at this point.”
They said the surviving toddler is in good hands with his family and that the young couple had been planning to name their unborn daughter Melody.
“They were prepping the room, the baby room for her,” Taisiya Tsaruk told KITV. “They were so excited for life and what it was going to bring for them.”
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