RAWDON – A bride posing for photographs in her wedding gown has drowned after her dress got wet and dragged her into a river near a ‘violently’ rushing waterfall in Canada.
30-year-old Maria Pantazopoulos was standing on a rock when she slipped and fell into the Ouareau River near Dorwin Falls, north of Montreal, on Friday afternoon.
Her body was found several hours later, around 6pm.
New bride,Maria Pantazopoulos, drowns in river at Dorwin Falls in Canada. Photo Credit: Photo News
The newly-wed yelled ‘I’m slipping, I’m slipping, I’m slipping,’ before falling off the rock she was perched on for her wedding pictures, according to CBC.
The photo-shoot was part of an increasing trend dubbed ‘Trash the Dress’ where recent brides playfully destroy their wedding dress. Pantazopoulos had commissioned the shoot following her June 9 wedding.
The distraught photographer, Louis Pagakis, told CTV Montreal that he did everything he could to save Pantazopoulos after she got into danger.
She had her wedding dress on and she said, ‘take some pictures of me while I swim a little bit in the lake,’ she went in and her dress got heavy, I tried everything I could to save her,” he told the station, visibly emotional.
The bride’s fiance was not present for the photo shoot and neither were any family members. However, her cousins and her brother rushed to the site when they heard of the tragedy.
The incident happened in Rawdon, Quebec, Canada, about 40 miles from the city of Montreal.