Dr Noor Shah and Muhammad Malik on their wedding day in New York. Social media photo

Gulf Today Report

Two American-Pakistani families were devastated and in disbelief after a newlywed couple drowned off the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caicos while on their honeymoon  — just four days after they got married in New York.

Muhammad Malik, 35, a Manhattan attorney, and his 29-year-old wife, Dr Noor Shah, a surgeon in the city, died on Oct.28 while honeymooning at a Turks and Caicos Islands resort in the Bahamas.

The couple had been swimming in chest-deep waters near Como Parrot Cay when they were suddenly pulled underwater by a strong riptide.

Dr Noor Shah and Muhammad Malik. File

Witnesses were able to pull the couple from the water, and performed CPR but both died at the scene, according to the groom’s father, Col. (retd) Maqbool Malik, a well-known figure in the Pakistani-American community.

“It’s a devastating loss,” he told a local newspaper. “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,” Col (retd) Malik added.

He criticised the resort for a lack of signs warning swimmers of the possibility of riptides. “They were truly in love with each other,” said Col (retd) Malik.

“The kind of chemistry that we saw in those two human beings was amazingly fascinating. They loved each other.”