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A Newly Wed Pakistani American Couple Drown on their Honeymoon in the Caribbean

A Newly Wed Pakistani American Couple Drown on their Honeymoon in the Caribbean

  • While walking on sandbars off the shore, the pair is believed to have been suddenly pulled underwater by strong riptides.

A newlywed couple from New York met a watery death when they drowned during their honeymoon off the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos, on October 28, just four days after their wedding (Oct. 24). Mohammad Malik, 35, and Dr. Noor Shah, 29, were on holiday in the Caribbean at the end of October when the tragedy occurred.

The couple tied the knot in a traditional Pakistani wedding ceremony at an East Meadow wedding hall on Long Island East Meadow wedding hall on Long Island. The doomed New York City couple were supposed to be moving in together to start their new life after they returned from their honeymoon.

What happened to the couple remains unclear, but it appears they had been walking on sandbars off the shore, when the pair was suddenly pulled underwater by strong riptides, Mohammad’s dad, Col. R. Maqbool Malik, 70, told Newsday.

It is believed the pair were swimming in chest-deep water near their accommodation when they were suddenly pulled under.

Witnesses pulled Malik and his wife from the water and performed CPR on them, but were unable to save the couple who died at the scene.

“Obviously they were out there alone so nobody knows exactly what caused the issue. Your guess is as good as mine,” the groom’s brother Salman Malik told NBC New York. “I felt numb, like it does not feel real. We are still in that elated state of happiness from the wedding … utter disbelief in the sense that, how could this happen?”

His other brother, Ahmad Malik speaking to NBC New York, called the wedding one of the happiest day of his life — “followed very closely by the worst, just a few days later.”

“It doesn’t feel as if any of this is real yet, so I imagine the hard part starts now since we just buried them yesterday,” a crestfallen Ahmad Malik said. He and other family members traveled to the islands to retrieve the bodies.

“Noor and Mohammad together were just magnetic and brought happiness to everyone around them. Their energy was infectious.  They were both incredible, and everything I wanted to be in life,” added Ahmad, continuing, “My brother was very deeply in love with her. He was always glowing when he was with her. He was glowing on the day of his wedding. She was his princess when he got engaged and she became his Queen. Even in this situation with Covid, he found the best place he could possibly travel to with all these restrictions where he could go with his new wife. While we’re sad they’re not with us anymore, we’re glad that they’re together and were together in their final moments.”

Col. R. Maqbool Malik learned of the deaths when he was told by the American Embassy in the Bahamas. â€œI picked up the phone and my wife was crying, ‘My Mohammed, my Mohammed,’ and I realized something really bad had gone on. It was a tremor for my soul, for my body, for my life,” Maqbool Malik told the New York Post.

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A grieving Maqbool Malik described the incident as a “devastating loss” to NBC New York, adding, “This is a shock beyond belief. It was a love story that ended very fast. And it’s a tragedy of different dimensions when you have to lay two children to rest in a joint funeral. 

Malik and Shah were the children of immigrants. He was a corporate lawyer in the city, while she was a surgeon in Manhattan. The pair’s dream was to someday open a hospital in Pakistan.

According to friends and employers as reported by New York Post, Malik was a “humble, bright” Manhattan corporate lawyer” with the “big smile” from Chelsea and Shah was a talented surgical resident at NYU Langone Health who loved concerts, cooking and running down the Lower East Side.

Malik’s family said they hope to start a foundation in the couple’s names.

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