Pregnant mother, father from WA die while snorkeling in Hawaii

A couple from Snohomish County drowned in Hawaiian waters on Saturday while vacationing, leaving behind a toddler son, Maui fire officials said.

The couple was vacationing on Maui when they went snorkeling at Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve, along the coastline. Around noon, Maui County firefighters and ocean safety personnel received a report of snorkelers in distress, Fire Department spokesperson Chris Stankil said.

Responders located an unconscious 26-year-old woman and a 25-year-old man. The two were pronounced dead at the scene despite resuscitation efforts.

A GoFundMe identified the couple as Ilya and Sophia Tsaruk. The couple had an 18-month-old son who was staying with family while the couple were in Maui, according to the GoFundMe. Sophia Tsaruk was reportedly also pregnant with a baby girl at the time of her death.

“We don’t think that she suffocated in the mask,” Ilya’s brother Anatoliy Tsaruk told Hawaii’s IslandNews. “It might’ve just played a role in scaring her to panic. Everything is just speculation at this point.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, the fundraiser had raised over $126,000. The organizer did not respond to a request for comment.

“We are blessed to have had both of them in our lives and are left now with the sweet memories and moments that we shared together with them,” the fundraiser states. “Their serving spirit and warm company will never be forgotten, and may God help us all to love and serve one another as Ilya and Sophia served.”

A celebration of life for the couple and their unborn child, named Melody, has been set for 6 p.m. Sept. 26 at Sulamita Church in Mukilteo.