Two little girls have been left orphaned after their parents drowned at a beach in Western Australia while holidaying with friends.
A Perth couple, Dr Mohammad Swapan, 44, and Dr Sabrina Ahmed, 40, drowned while attempting to rescue their youngest daughter from a powerful rip current at Conspicuous Cliff Beach, near Walpole in Western Australia, on Saturday.
The family, on a Christmas holiday, were enjoying the remote beach when their daughter was swept into dangerous waters.
Emergency services arrived after receiving reports of three people in distress around 2.40pm. A 42-year-old man also entered the water to assist the couple. Reports from The Australian Today, say that all three were eventually pulled from the ocean by nearby beachgoers.
Beachgoers pulled the couple's bodies from the ocean, but they couldn't be revived. Despite CPR efforts by police, Swapan and Ahmed could not be revived.
A friend of the couple who was among those who tried to rescue the pair was revived at the scene and remains in the hospital in a stable condition.
The couple were respected members of the Bangladeshi community in Perth, where Dr Swapan was an associate professor at Curtin University.
Dr Ahmed was also an academic who studied planning and development in Bangladesh before the couple relocated to Perth in 2011.
The couple’s deaths have left the Bangladeshi community in Perth reeling, with tributes describing them as “deeply respected and loved by all who knew them".
Dr Swapan's university colleague Peter Newman told The West Australian: 'He was a beautiful, gentle leader who loved his kids and loved his job, and we'll all miss him".
The couple's youngest daughter survived the ordeal and has since returned home with her sister to stay with relatives.
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