Church mourns pastor, wife who died trying to save son from drowning at the beach

A Brazilian church is mourning the loss of a pastor and his wife, who died attempting to save their teenage son from drowning at the beach. 

Felisberto Sampaio, 43, and his wife, Inalda Sampaio, 42, saw their 13-year-old son, Ian Sampaio, struggling in the water at Camacari Beach in Brazil on Jan. 10. The couple entered the ocean to rescue the boy, but they failed to reach him. 

As Brazilian news outlet Universo Online reported, the incident occurred around 10 a.m., citing the Civil Police, who reported that the boy was rescued by a fisherman and another family member while his parents were not pulled from the water in time. 

The Fire Department confirmed to UOL that the two victims were removed from the water. The department attempted to revive them, eventually declaring the couple dead at the scene.

The Sampaio family was from the city of Campina Grande in Brazil, and the father had been a pastor for 12 years at the Assembly of God Church in Quixaba, Paraíba, according to The Daily Mail.  The family was spending a couple of days in the Paraíba city of Lucena. 

Members of the church mourned the couple’s death, as well as Leonardo Meneses, a pastor at a church that the family had frequently attended. 

“I know that the circumstances are painful and difficult for us to understand. Only eternity will explain all the mysteries of life,” Meneses said

The couple’s oldest son, Issac Sampaio, told TV Borborema on Jan. 11 that he planned to visit his parents before their tragic deaths. The eldest child said he last saw his parents on Jan. 8. 

“The thing that goes through people’s minds is that it’s a lie,” he said.