New York newlyweds drown during their honeymoon in Turks and Caicos
A New York-area couple who drowned during their honeymoon in Turks and Caicoswere expected to be laid to rest Sunday in New Jersey.
Attorney Mohammad Malik, 35, and Dr. Noor Shan, a 29-year-old NYU Langone medical center surgical resident, had been married only four days before they were pulled under by a rip current near their resort, COMO Parrot Cay, on Oct. 28.
“It’s a devastating loss,” the groom’s father, Col. R. Maqbool Malik, told Long Island’s Newsday. “This is a shock beyond belief. And it’s a tragedy of different dimensions when you have to lay two children to rest in a joint funeral.”
He said witnesses were able to pull the couple from the water and perform CPR, but both died at the scene.
“COMO Parrot Cay and the COMO Group are deeply saddened by the tragic accident that occurred while hotel guests were in the ocean off Parrot Cay in late October,” the resort said in a statement provided by spokesman Chris Orlikowski. “We have worked with the authorities of the Turks Caicos to fully cooperate with their investigation into this incident.”
Maqbool Malik took the resort to task for allegedly not posting adequate signs warning of the dangers of rip currents.
Orlikowski declined to comment on the complaint.
COMO Parrot Cay just reopened on Oct. 1 after a COVID-19 pandemic closure. USA TODAY has also reached out to the U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas, which serves Turks and Caicos and notified the families, according to Newsday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines rip currents as “powerful, narrow channels of fast-moving water.” It also noted that rip currents are often confused with riptides, which happen “near inlets and the mouths of estuaries, embayments, and harbors.”
NOAA advises that if you are caught in a rip current or riptide, the safest course of action is to float or swim parallel to shore, which will take you away from the current. Trying to swim against it will result only in tiring you out. Once you can see land, swim diagonally toward the shore.
Better yet, the agency said, ask lifeguards about any hazards before getting in the water and make a point of swimming close to a lifeguard station.
NOAA’s website estimated that rip currents result in tens of thousands of rescues and 100 deaths a year.
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