Young couple in Maui snorkeling tragedy remembered as kind and selfless
By Mika Miyashima
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WAILEA, Hawaii (KITV) — A Washington State couple that apparently drowned while snorkeling off Maui over the weekend has now been identified.
Loved ones of Sophia Kovalevich and Ilya ‘Billy’ Tsaruk remember them as kind, selfless, and always helping others.
The couple passed away while snorkeling on their babymoon on the Valley Isle over the weekend.
The 25-year-old man and his 26-year-old wife from Snohomish had traveled to Hawaii with two other couples, including Billy’s brother and his wife.
They decided to go snorkeling on their first full day of vacation near Ahihi-Kinau Natural Area Reserve on Saturday.
Family said Ilya and Sophia had just bought property and were looking forward to an exciting future together. Sophia was also pregnant, and the couple was expecting to welcome a baby girl, their second child, in December.
“Her birthday is the day after Christmas,” explained Sophia’s sister Ilona Tsymbalyuk. “She was always talking about how she might deliver this baby girl that she was dreaming about on her birthday. They were planning to name her Melody because they both sang.”
On Saturday, the couples were wearing full face snorkel masks, and after running into trouble in the water, four of them came back in to shore.
“We don’t think that she suffocated in the mask,” explained Ilya’s brother Anatoliy Tsaruk. “It might’ve just played a role in scaring her to panic. Everything is just speculation at this point.”
As their concerns grew for Sophia and Ilya, a man approached the couples, saying he had heard someone screaming in the water for help.
First responders were called to the area at around noon, eventually rescuing them and performing CPR.
The couple also leaves behind an 18-month old son, Logan, who’s now being taken care of by family.
“There’s not a moment he’s alone,” said Tsymbalyuk. “Everybody’s constantly rotating wanting to hold him (Logan) because they left a little bit of him and her in him.”
A GoFundMe page has been created to help cover funeral expenses and support baby Logan.
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