Pregnant mom, husband who drowned while snorkeling in Maui, leave behind toddler son
Loved ones and a church community are mourning the loss of a couple and their unborn baby following the apparent drowning of a pregnant Washington state woman and her husband in Hawaii.
Family identified the couple as Ilya Tsaruk nd Sophia Kovalevich of Snohomish, a city about 30 miles north of Seattle.
"She was going to become a girl mom," her sister-in-law Tia Tsuark, who was with the couple with her husband Tony Tsuark on vacation on the island of Maui when they died, told local FOX 13. "They never came back to us."
Couple who drowned in Maui had been snorkeling, husband found 150 yards from shore
According to the Maui Fire Department, about noon on Saturday, firefighters and ocean safety personnel responded to a report of swimmers in distress along the north side of Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve.
The agency learned a couple had been snorkeling, and first-responders on a jet ski located the pregnant 26-year-old woman in the water, took her to shore and began CPR. Crews returned to the water and located her 26-year-old husband on the ocean floor about 150 yards from shore.
He was also brought to shore where rescue crews administered CPR.
First responders attempted lifesaving measures, the agency reported, but the victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
USA TODAY has reached out to the victims family and church.
Couple leaves behind 18-month-old son
The couple attended Sulamita Slavic Church where family said they sang in a worship group, according to an online fundraiser.
"We lost a dear sister and brother, daughter and son, and beautiful niece, but we know that heaven received and gained the three of them with open arms," Roseville, Calif. resident Andrew Tupikov wrote in the fundraiser he created to help the victims' family, including an 18-month-old boy named Logan.
"Logan, who was staying with his aunt and uncle at the time. Ilya and Sophia both loved the Lord and were always serving in the church and serving people around the," Tupikov wrote.
As of Thursday, nearly 1,000 people had donated more than $134,000 to the fundraiser.
A celebration of life and funeral service, the fundraiser says, are set for Sept. 26 and Sept. 27.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.