Wife drowned after jumping into holiday home swimming pool to save millionaire husband who had fatal heart attack

A WIFE drowned trying to save her husband after he had a heart attack in the swimming pool of their holiday home, it was reported.

Diana Shamash, 80, leapt into the water fully clothed to try to help her 82-year-old property tycoon husband David at the couple’s holiday home in the south of France.

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Their neighbours who were meant to be coming round for dinner with the “lovely” English couple raised the alarm.

When no-one answered the door, they entered the property to discover the bodies of couple, who are in their eighties, floating in the pool.

A senior investigating source told the Daily Mail the house near the picturesque market town of Gignac is secluded so nobody would have been able to hear their cries for help.

“What we do now know is that Mrs Shamash was fully clothed, and wearing her shoes, when she jumped into the pool to save her husband after he suffered a suspected heart attack,” they said.

“She undoubtedly found it very difficult to float in these circumstances and sank in the water.”

The sourced said foul play appears not to be the case and one line of inquiry is whether the pool was heated as a cold water is a notorious killer in hot weather. 

Mr Shamash was director of ten property businesses reportedly with assets of over £5million.

The Oxford graduate ran his property empire along with his 56-year-old son Anthony.

The couple also owned a sprawling country farmhouse in the village of South Fawley, Berkshire, and an apartment above the official Tintin shop in Covent Garden, central London.

The couple’s daughter Nicola, 58, lived down the road from them in South Fawley.

Their heartbroken children flew out to France to identify their parents’ bodies this week.

They visited their holiday home three or four times a year for three-week breaks and were due to return home on Monday.

“It is just a tragedy. They loved France, they wanted to spend as much time as possible there,” said a friend in South Fawley.

Another added: “You wouldn’t meet a more dedicated couple, honestly. They were devoted to each other, such a lovely couple.”

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