Russian-speaking couple dies in Hawaii, leaving 18-month-old child orphaned

The young parents of a one-and-a-half-year-old son and an unborn girl drowned on September 14. The tragedy occurred in Hawaii, where the couple was on vacation, writes New York Post.

Photo: Idreamphotos | Dreamstime.com

Washington residents Ilya and Sofia Tsaruk, who was pregnant with their second child, died in Maui while swimming in the tropical paradise, according to local fire officials and family members.

Island firefighters and marine rescue teams were called to the scene on September 14 after reports of "snorkelers in distress" in the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area.

Rescuers found 26-year-old Sofia unconscious and brought her to shore, where firefighters performed CPR on her.

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The report said the woman had been swimming with her husband, so the rescue team returned to the ocean to look for him.

Firefighters said Ilya, 25, was soon found on the seabed about 150 meters from the shore. He was carried to land, where ambulance crews immediately began resuscitation efforts.

But neither Sophia nor Ilya started breathing. Doctors pronounced them dead right there on the beach. Sophia's unborn child also died, the Maui County Fire Department said.

When they went to the island, the couple left their 18-month-old son Logan with his aunt and uncle. The young parents were very religious people and active members of their church, the page says. GoFundMe, created to raise funds for the funeral.

"Ilya and Sofia loved the Lord, served in the church and helped those in need," Andrey Tupikov wrote on this page. "Sophia had an angelic voice, and she and Ilya sang in the worship team at their church."

The GoFundMe page had a goal of $100, but at the time of writing, donations had reached almost $000.

Screenshot from GoFundMe

The money will go toward covering the costs of transporting Ilya and Sofia's bodies from Hawaii to Washington state.

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"It is a blessing that they were both in our lives. Now we have wonderful memories of the moments we shared with them. May God help us all to love and serve each other as Ilya and Sofia did," Tupikov wrote.

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