Newlyweds married on LI drown on their honeymoon, family says

A Manhattan corporate attorney and his newlywed bride, a surgical resident at NYU Langone Health, drowned on their honeymoon last week in the Caribbean — four days after they wed at a ceremony in East Meadow, family members said Friday.

Mohammad Malik, 35, and Dr. Noor Shah, 29, were swimming in chest-deep waters on Oct. 28 near Como Parrot Cay, the couple's Turks and Caicos Islands resort, when they were pulled under by strong riptides, said Col. R. Maqbool Malik of Garden City Park, the groom's father.

Witnesses pulled the couple from the water and performed CPR, but they died at the scene, said Maqbool Malik, 70, a well-known figure in Long Island's Pakistani American community.

"It's a devastating loss," he said. "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."

While the drowning was accidental, Malik criticized the resort for failing to post appropriate warning signs alerting swimmers about potentially dangerous riptides.

Resort officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The U.S. State Department, which confirmed the two deaths, said it has "worked to provide all appropriate consular assistance to the families. Out of respect to the families during this difficult time, we have no further comment."

Maqbool Malik said he was informed of the deaths by the American Embassy in the Bahamas. His sons, Salman Malik, 41, and Ahmad Malik, 26, traveled to Turks and Caicos to identify the bodies. Shah's older brother Murtza Shah also traveled to Turks and Caicos.

Maqbool Malik and his wife, Najam, 62, also have a daughter, Saadia Malik, 40.

The couple's bodies are expected to arrive in New York Saturday while a funeral will be held Sunday in Teaneck, New Jersey, followed by burial in Totowa.

Mohammad Malik, a graduate of Cornell University and an attorney at Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP in Manhattan, was dating Shah, a fourth-year surgical resident who was applying to a vascular surgery fellowship this year, for about two years.

The couple, who lived in Manhattan, married Oct. 24 at The Carltun, a catering venue in Eisenhower Park.

"They were truly in love with each other," said Maqbool Malik. "The kind of chemistry that we saw in those two human beings was amazingly fascinating. They loved each other."

In a statement, Olshan Frome called the couple "shining lights who touched everyone who had the benefit of knowing them. Mohammad was a humble, bright and talented attorney and a truly kind and gentle soul. Mohammad always strove to live life to the fullest and to appreciate the richness of human experience."

Shah, who grew up in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, was a graduate of Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a fourth-year resident in the Department of Surgery at NYU Langone Health.

"She was an excellent resident and a promising surgeon and she will be deeply missed," the hospital said in a statement.

Mohammad Malik was 35 when he and his newlywed bride drowned while swimming near Como Parrot Cay, the couple's Turks and Caicos Islands resort. His brother Ahmad Malik is 26. The information was incorrect in a previous version of this article.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.