DUBAI: A Saudi-based Filipina nurse and her newlywed husband drowned while snorkeling on their honeymoon in the Maldives on Sunday, officials have confirmed.
Highschool sweethearts Leomar Lagradilla, 30, and his wife Erika Joyce, 29, were snorkeling at a resort in Maldives’ Dhiffushi island when they drowned, UAE daily Gulf News reported.
They were taken to a local hospital, but were pronounced dead on arrival.
"They cannot give the full details why my brother and sister-in-law drowned. As of now, nobody from the hotel has messaged us what really happened," Lagradilla’s sister said in an interview on a local radio program.
Lagradilla and Joyce, who were nurses based in Singapore and Saudi Arabia respectively, married in the Philippines on Dec. 18, before flying to the Maldives on Jan. 9 for their honeymoon.
The Philippine diplomatic mission in Dhaka is arranging the repatriation of the bodies of the two victims, which according to the couple’s friends would cost $23,000.
An online fundraising campaign has been created to raise the money, but Philippine officials have vowed to meet the costs.
