British couple on honeymoon in South African drown

A young couple have died in a tragic honeymoon accident in South Africa six days after exchanging their wedding vows.

Lynette and John Rodgers drowned on Friday after getting caught in a rip tide while swimming at Plettenberg Bay.
Members of the National Sea Rescue Initiative attempted to resuscitate the couple after they were discovered washed up on the beach, but they were declared dead by a NSRI team doctor.
Lynette, 26, an NHS physiotherapist, from Holywood, Co Down, was swimming with her husband John, 28, from Ballygowan, Co Antrim, when tragedy struck on Robberg Beach.
Friends and family were supporting their parents yesterday, including Lynette’s widowed mother, Eva Reiley, as they worked to make arrangements to have the couple’s bodies returned to Northern Ireland.
John’s work mates at Calvert Office Equipment, East Belfast, also gathered on Saturday to offer their help.
Many of them had attended the couple’s wedding last Saturday and their colourful celebration at Ballygally Castle Hotel in Co Antrim.

John and Lynette travelled to Dublin the following Monday and Lynette, who studied at Glasgow Caladonian University, sent a Facebook message to her friends and family from the airport while waiting for their flight.
It read: “John and I would like to thank to everyone who joined us on Saturday and for all the well wishes. We greatly appreciate it and had the best day ever. Heading off today so will speak to everyone when we return.”
They arrived safely in South Africa on Tuesday and were enjoying a day at the beach three days later when tragedy struck.
A family friend told the Mirror: “It’s such a sorrowful, terrible, devastating day. They were two beautiful people just starting out together and now they’ve gone.

 
“We’ve been told the authorities believe they got caught in a rip tide while they were swimming at Plett Bay.
"They were both healthy, both decent swimmers and both very physically fit but the tide was just too much for them.
“Our dear Lynette and the love of her life John, died a day short of their first week of married life. In their wedding vows they promised to be by each other’s side in good times and in bad but they could never have imagined this.
“We’re struggling with the shock of the news but we’re grateful that at least they were together when this tragedy unfolded.
"There is some comfort in the fact that they were both recovered from the water and we will be able to bring them home.”