Man drowns while proposing marriage to girlfriend underwater in tragic accident

AMERICAN tourist Steven Weber has drowned while proposing marriage to his girlfriend named as Kenesha Antoine at an idyllic holiday resort off Tanzania's Pemba Island in East Africa.

Ms Antoine who filmed the romantic marriage proposal was soon hit with tragedy as Mr Weber failed to emerge from the water after diving in. They were staying in a submerged cabin at the Manta Resort, off Pemba Island, very popular with Western tourists.

In the video, Mr Weber pressed a hand-written proposal note against the cabin window as Ms Antoine films from inside. Manta Resort officials confirmed that Mr Weber tragically drowned while free diving alone outside the underwater  room on Thursday afternoon.

Matthew Saus, the chief executive of the resort, said: “It is with the deepest regret that we inform that a fatal accident occurred at The Manta Resort on Thursday 19 September 2019. Everyone is shaken to the core by Mr Weber’s death.

Mr Weber and Ms Antoine had booked four nights at the resort’s underwater room, which lies approximately 250m from the shore. Costing $1,700 a night, the cabin is anchored in water around 10m deep.

On the third day of their stay, Mr Weber, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, plunged into the water to make his proposal. Wearing goggles and flippers, he held a note against the cabin’s glass window as Ms Antoine watched on from within.

His note read: “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.”

Later in the video, Mr Weber turns over the sheet of paper to reveal the proposal, before pulling an engagement ring from his shorts and swimming out of view.  Ms Antoine said Mr Weber never got to hear her answer to his proposal, which would have been a million times, yes.

She added: “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. I will try to take solace in the fact that we enjoyed the most amazing bucket list experiences these past few days and that we both were so happy and absolutely giddy with excitement in our final moments together.”