MOURNERS have paid tribute to a London-based couple who tragically died in a hot tub while on holiday in Valencia.
Thomasina Tobin, from Ireland, and Patrick Tobin, from New Zealand, died of cardiac arrest after the jacuzzi at their rented villa in Cullera apparently malfunctioned last month.
Their teenage children Rhea and Seamus raised the alarm after finding their bodies in the afternoon of August 25.
Patrick and Thomasina’s joint funeral Mass took place on Friday morning in Ballintra, Ireland, with Reverend Patrick McGinn describing the couple as ‘much-loved parents’.
McGinn added that their sudden passing has ‘left an immeasurable void in the lives of all who loved them’ and that ‘so many [were] left heartbroken at their tragic deaths’, the Irish Times reported.
“We are all so sad for you who are heartbroken today. We really don’t know what to say,” McGinn said.
“All we can do is huddle in grief around the remains of shattered dreams and what might have been. We can just hold you in our hearts today.”
The reverend described Thomasina as a ‘tenacious person’ who would ‘stick with things even though they were really hard’, while portraying Patrick as ‘quick, adventurous’ and a lover of sport.
In a moving moment of the ceremony, Thomasina’s brother John took the floor to thank those who ‘helped us along the way over the past number of weeks’.
Mourners brought special gifts to commemorate the couple, including photographs, a hard hat, cards and a sacred New Zealand greenstone called ‘pounamu’, the Irish Times reported.
