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A MAN from the US state of Louisiana drowned while trying to make an underwater marriage proposal to his girlfriend while the couple was on vacation in Africa.
Steven Weber Jr., of Baton Rouge, died this week while proposing to his girlfriend Kenesha Antoine underwater while in Tanzania.
Antoine, an attorney, posted about the tragic accident on her Facebook page early Friday with photos and videos of the proposal.
She wrote: “There are no words adequate enough to honour the beautiful soul that is Steven Weber, Jr. You were a bright light to everyone you encountered.”
“You never emerged from those depths, so you never got to hear my answer, ‘Yes! Yes! A million times, yes, I will marry you!!’.”
“We never got to embrace and celebrate the beginning of the rest of our lives together, as the best day of our lives turned into the worst, in the cruellest twist of fate imaginable.”
In the video, Weber can be seen swimming underwater and holding a Ziploc bag with a hand written note inside.
One side reads: “I can't hold my breath long enough to tell you everything I love about you. But...everything I love about you I love more every day!”
On the back, Weber asked Antoine to marry him.
He then pulls out a ring and opens the box as Antoine excitedly laughs in the background.
“Just a couple days before you died, you said to me, ‘I’ve seen a few cancer patients on this trip, and it dawned on me that this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing that people want to experience before they die. And here we are in the prime of our lives doing this. We are so blessed’.”
“Yes, we were, my perfect love, my angel, my soul. Yes, we were, and I will carry the blessing of the love we shared with me forever. I will find you and marry you in the next lifetime, and the next, and the next, and the next... I love you so much, and I always will.”
A US State Department official said on Friday that the department “is aware of reports of the death of a US citizen in Tanzania,” according to The Advocate.
The official said: “We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss. We stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance.”
The Facebook post has received national attention, garnering more than 1,400 reactions and 212 comments.
Friends and family of Weber shared their condolences over the tragic death on Antoine's page.
One person wrote: “Steven is the truest friend one can ever know and love. My deepest condolences to you, I can’t express how much my and this world lost with this news.”
Another said: “My heart grieves (over) this unbelievable news. Thank you for your eloquent, brave words. Steven and I weren’t close, but we didn’t have to be for me to notice the exceptional light that guided his spirit.”
“I'm in shock, I'm so sorry, many prayers for you and his family.....I worked with him and he was over the moon for you,” one of Weber Jr.'s co-workers wrote.
“Steven was one of my very best friends in high school and for years after that. I think of him often and have missed him, but have been so happy to see him happy and in love,” a friend of Weber wrote.
“I cannot yet comprehend this loss. The cruelty of it is too much, but I am glad his last moments were spent with someone he clearly loved more than anything.”
According to his Facebook page, Weber was an RA at Christopher's Addiction Wellness Center.
It has not been reported how the drowning incident occurred. – Daily Mail