The funerals of two Northern Ireland honeymooners who drowned in South Africa will take place in the church where they married.
John Rodgers (28) and his wife Lynette (26) died last month after getting caught in a rip tide at Plettenberg Bay.
The tragedy unfolded just six days after the couple were married at the local church in Co Down.
Mrs Rodgers (née Reilly) was an NHS physiotherapist from Holywood who friends described as kind and compassionate.
Mr Rodgers, a popular and enthusiastic engineering graduate from Ballygowan, worked for an office equipment company in Belfast.
He was discovered in shallow surf on Robberg Beach by a local man at about 6pm on October 23rd, South Africa’s National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) said.
His wife’s body was found about 200 yards away along the same beach.
Doctors performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on them but the couple were pronounced dead at the scene.
The couple were married in front of family and friends at the First Presbyterian Church in the bride’s hometown of Holywood.
Today their funeral will be held there.
–(PA)