The remains of the newlywed Filipino couple who drowned in the Maldives were flown Wednesday to Sri Lanka to be embalmed before their final journey back to the Philippines.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the remains of Leomer Lagradilla and his wife Erika Joyce left Male, the capital of Maldives, on board a Sri Lankan Airlines flight for Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, shortly after midnight Wednesday.
Philippine Embassy in Bangladesh Chargé d’Affaires LV de Guzman said a relative of the couple accompanied
their remains on the flight to Sri Lanka.
The Philippine Honorary Consulate in Male helped arrange the repatriation of the remains.
Family members of the newlywed on Tuesday met Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. who assured them that the DFA will shoulder the cost of bringing the couple home.
The newlywed nurses were on their honeymoon in the Maldives when they both drowned Sunday.
In a tweet, Locsin said it is the right of the couple’s family to demand help. “The Assistance to Nationals Fund is for nationals in distress and not for national officials to spend on themselves,” Locsin said.
Meanwhile, a 26-year-old Filipino student drowned when he went swimming with friends in New Zealand, the DFA said Tuesday.
Philippine Ambassador to Wellington Jesus Domingo reported that Kent Espinosa, who was on his school break from Auckland, was swimming with his friends at Whangarei Falls in Northland, New Zealand last Jan. 11 when he drowned.
Domingo said the embassy is coordinating with New Zealand authorities for the issuance of appropriate visas for his sister who will fly from the Philippines to bring home his remains. (Roy Mabasa)
