SEATTLE — A couple from Washington died in Maui over the weekend after first responders found the husband and wife unresponsive in the water where they were snorkeling, according to the Maui County Fire Department.
Family members identified the couple as 25-year-old Ilya Tsaruk and 26-year-old Sophia Tsaruk, according to a GoFundMe page. Sophia was pregnant and the couple also had an 18-month-old son, who was with other family members and not with them at the time of their deaths.
The Tsaruks are from Snohomish, according to public records.
On Saturday, Maui County Fire said firefighters responded to reports of snorkelers in distress near the north side of Āhihi-Kīnaʻu Natural Area Reserve on Maui. They found Sophia unresponsive in the water and took her to shore to begin CPR. First responders then went back out on the water and found Ilya underwater approximately 150 yards offshore, the department said.
Resuscitation efforts were not successful and both people died at the scene.
The couple was on vacation together and were expecting a daughter.
"Yesterday, 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," the fundraiser states. "Ilya and Sophia both loved the Lord and were always serving in the church and serving people around them. Sophia had the voice of an angel, and together with Ilya, they sang in a worship group in their church."
"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 page states.
So far, the GoFundMe has raised over $111,000 toward funeral expenses and for their son.
In an interview with Hawaii independent news affiliate KITV, another couple on the trip shared that the weather had been good and the water was calm. They paid tribute to the young, beloved couple.
"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."
