{"id":273376,"date":"2025-07-19T00:28:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T00:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/273376\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T00:28:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T00:28:16","slug":"briton-was-trying-to-save-friend-when-both-died-in-portugal-sister-says-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/273376\/","title":{"rendered":"Briton was trying to save friend when both died in Portugal, sister says | UK News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The sister of a man who drowned in Portugal has said he died while trying to save his best friend in the water.<\/p>\n<p>King Edonmi, 29, and Mo Liasu, 27, both from Ipswich, died less than 24 hours after arriving on holiday in Albufeira, on the south coast of <a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/topic\/portugal-6515\/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Portugal<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>They are believed to have drowned in a hotel swimming pool on 15 July.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement online, King&#8217;s sister Kemi Edonmi said: &#8220;My best friend is really gone.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Rest in peace to my big brother and his best friend Mo, we love you and will never forget you both.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>She also wrote that King &#8220;died trying to save his friend&#8217;s life&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>She added that reports suggesting the two had been drinking were false, saying: &#8220;My brother and Mo do not drink and were not intoxicated at the time of the incident.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/skynews-king-edonmi-mo-liasu_6968118.jpg\"   alt=\"GoFundMe handout image of King Edonmi, 29, and Mo Liasu, 27, on holiday. Pic: GoFundMe \/ Angelo Antonio\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Image:<br \/>\n        Pic: GoFundMe \/ Angelo Antonio<\/p>\n<p>A GoFundMe<strong> <\/strong>fundraiser for the repatriation of their bodies and to support their families has raised more than \u00a324,500 as of 9pm on Friday &#8211; well above its \u00a320,000 target.<\/p>\n<p>Organiser Angelo Antonio wrote that the two &#8220;were more than friends to us&#8221; and &#8220;were brothers to many,&#8221; before adding: &#8220;They were warm, loyal, funny and full of dreams.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The sort of men you never hear a bad word about because there simply were none.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr Antonio then said that the total cost of returning their bodies to the UK would be more than \u00a310,000.<\/p>\n<p>He added: &#8220;Repatriation involves complex legal paperwork, international funeral care and transportation costs no family is ever prepared for, especially not under such heartbreaking circumstances.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Read more on Sky News:<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/four-killed-in-colchester-crash-after-driver-lost-control-at-around-94mph-coroner-says-13398506\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Four killed in car crash after driver lost control at 94mph<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.sky.com\/story\/michael-harvey-man-who-attempted-to-murder-woman-while-on-date-in-glasgow-jailed-for-nine-years-13398528\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Man who attempted to murder woman while on date jailed<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>                    <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1746827170_314_skynews-world-podcast-richard-engel_6895914.jpg\" alt=\"Follow The World \" class=\"sdc-article-strapline__image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                Follow The World <\/p>\n<p class=\"sdc-article-strapline__text\">Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/podfollow.com\/the-world-with-richard-and-yalda\" class=\"sdc-article-strapline__button\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tap to follow<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A spokesperson for Portugal&#8217;s criminal investigation police said the incident is not being treated as suspicious.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The inspection of the scene revealed no evidence of criminal activity,&#8221; they added. &#8220;Witnesses to the events were interviewed, confirming the investigation&#8217;s belief that it was an accident.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson also said: &#8220;We are supporting the families of two British men who have died in Portugal and are in contact with the local authorities.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sister of a man who drowned in Portugal has said he died while trying to save his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":273377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-273376","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114877071610156413","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/273377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}