{"id":694331,"date":"2026-01-14T01:24:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T01:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/694331\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T01:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T01:24:19","slug":"british-couple-killed-in-scuba-diving-accident-in-the-maldives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/694331\/","title":{"rendered":"British couple killed in scuba diving accident in the Maldives"},"content":{"rendered":"

A retired British couple have been killed in a scuba diving accident while on holiday in the Maldives.<\/p>\n

Elaine Richmond, 70, and her husband Malcolm, 71, were spending Christmas at a resort on the remote \u00adisland of Ellaidhoo in the Indian Ocean, where they had spent the festive period for the past 17 years. <\/p>\n

They are believed to have had an \u00ad\u201caccident\u201d while scuba diving in the sea, according to their funeral directors, based in the village of Inkersall in \u00adDerbyshire, where the couple lived. <\/p>\n

Simon Hope, of Stubbins and Hope funeral directors, told the Daily Mail<\/a> that there were no criminal or suspicious circumstances surrounding the deaths. <\/p>\n

An inquest into the couple\u2019s deaths is due to be opened at Chesterfield coroner\u2019s court on January 30.<\/p>\n

Hope said the couple did not have any children but that their next of kin, a niece living near Manchester, had been informed. Their funerals will be held on \u00adJanuary 29 at noon at Brimington \u00adcrematorium in Chesterfield.<\/p>\n

A post on the funeral directors\u2019 \u00adwebsite states: \u201cElaine and Malcolm Richmond of Inkersall have tragically passed away just days apart at \u00adChristmas. All who knew them are welcome to attend [the funeral] and celebrate their lives. Any donations received will be given to Ashgate Hospice.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Richmonds had visited the \u00adresort where they dived 60 times and celebrated Christmas there for the past 17 years. Photographs posted by the couple on social media demonstrate that they were experienced scuba divers. <\/p>\n

\"Malcolm<\/p>\n

A tribute posted on a Facebook group read: \u201cWith deepest regret and sadness, we would like to inform you that two of our dearest members of the Ellaidhoo group Elaine and Malcom Richmond sadly passed away whilst on the Maldives over the Christmas holiday period.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were members of Maldives Holidaymakers and they were known to a lot of members but they regularly visited Ellaidhoo. Elaine and Malcolm visited Ellaidhoo over 60 times, three times in 2025, and in addition had been going to the island for the last 17 years at Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will be sadly missed by family and the many friends that they made over their many visits. They were very popular with all the staff they had made friends with and will be sorely missed. RIP Elaine and Malcolm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/p>\n

Ellaidhoo is only accessible by seaplane or boat<\/p>\n

ALAMY<\/p>\n

Ellaidhoo, which is located 26 miles west of the capital Mal\u00e9, is only accessible by seaplane or boat. Tour groups encourage visitors to \u201cdive into the world of wonder\u201d with one stating: \u201cYou won\u2019t regret visiting the underwater guests at Ellaidhoo Maldives.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe swimming or diving in warm cerulean waters as clear as glass, it\u2019s easy to fall under the spell the vivid \u00adcorals of the reef, which will leave one pleasingly intoxicated.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A retired British couple have been killed in a scuba diving accident while on holiday in the Maldives.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[12,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-694331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115890845425643966","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694331","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=694331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}