NEW YORK – Two families mourn after a newlywed New York couple drowned during their honeymoon in the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos.
The tragedy in paradise took place just four days after Mohammad Malik and Noor Shah were married in a traditional Pakistani wedding in an East Meadow wedding hall on Long Island, leading family members from immense happiness to great pain in a matter of weeks. The remains of a “just married” sign painted on the couple’s truck were still visible when the vehicle was in the driveway of a Garden City Park home Monday afternoon.
What happened to the couple is unclear, but it appears that they had been walking on sandbars off shore, when the couple were suddenly overwhelmed by water.
“They were obviously there, so no one knows exactly what caused what happened,” said Salman Malik, the groom’s brother. “I felt numb, like it didn’t feel real. We were still in that euphoric state of happiness from the wedding… total disbelief in the sense that how could this happen?”
His other brother, Ahmad, said the wedding was one of the happiest days of his life, “followed closely by the worst” just days later.
“It doesn’t seem like all of this is real yet, so I imagine the hard part starts now, as we buried them yesterday,” Ahmad Malik said. He and other members of the family traveled to the islands to retrieve the bodies.
“They were both amazing and everything I wanted to be in life,” Ahmad said.
Malik and Shah were the children of immigrants, who were already making their mark on their world: he was a corporate lawyer in the city, while she was a surgeon in Manhattan. The couple’s dream was to one day open a hospital in Pakistan.
“Their energy as individuals was magnetic, but together it was incredible,” said Ahmad Malik. “They all wanted to be their friends. They all wanted to be around them.”
On Monday, the family gathered to mourn and look at photos of the October wedding, a very special day that was the precursor to an unthinkable tragedy.
“They died together, that’s the bottom line. There was a world for each other. One couldn’t live without the other,” Salman said. “They were happier with each other and didn’t miss a moment to enjoy life together.”
Malik’s family said they hope to start a foundation in the couple’s name.
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