Surely Miller a Slatington, Pennsylvania woman who’d recently moved to the Dominican Republic with her partner becomes the latest US fatality on the getaway island.
A 42-year-old yoga teacher from Pennsylvania died this week when she was swept out to sea in the Dominican Republic — the eighth American tourist death reported in the country in recent weeks.
Surely Miller’s body was recovered Wednesday after she vanished from a beach the day before in Cabarete, Dominican Today reported. Miller’s death puts the total body count of Americans traveling and dying in the Dominican Republican in recent weeks up to eight.
The mother of three went out for a swim Tuesday near the coastal province of Puerto Plata before being dragged out to sea by a rip current and carried more than two miles from the coast.
According to the Morning Call, Miller had set out with her partner Karan Bindra at Sosúa beach late Tuesday afternoon before tragedy soon struck.
According to the media outlet, the couple had swapped out of living in Pennsylvania’s Slatington to the ‘peaceful’ allure of the Dominican Republic six months ago. With barely any money they were able to create a growing yoga practice and a new home for them and Miller’s three sons.
Prior to her move, Miller- who is of Dominican heritage – owned a studio named Surely Yoga in Slatington, where she also taught classes that ‘aim to help others to intelligently know and heal their bodies,’ according to her bio.
‘Yoga means life and she credits it with saving her own,’ her biography reads. ‘In the chaos of life, she nearly lost herself until she reclaimed her strength through yoga.’
Miller’s bio notes the yoga instructor previously studying in New York, Miami, Orlando, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
Another local studio where she taught, Tribe Yoga, confirmed her death Wednesday in a Facebook post.
‘Honoring our beloved friend and teacher Surely Miller tomorrow,’ the studio posted, adding that they will hold a class ‘dedicated to her beautiful spirit.’
Friends and students also took to social media to mourn the teacher’s death.
‘Just heartbreaking. Surely Miller was so full of love and life. She will be greatly missed,’ Rebecca Olesen wrote on Facebook.
Friends launched a GoFundMe page that will raise money for her three sons, 15-year-old Dylan, 13-year-old Miles and 10-year-old Preston.
‘Surely has blessed so many of us with her warm healing touch and the best thing we can do for her now is make sure her children are taken care of,’ the page said.
Unlike the other deaths that have occurred on the Caribbean getaway island, Miller’s death appears to be the result of freak circumstances and forces of nature unlike other US traveler deaths which continue to involve speculation of untoward human actions.
