Viewers watch Avery Mills and Omar Albakour’s wedding journey. Over time, they became fan favorites.
On social media, fans followed his story. They couldn’t live together for a long time.
Now, they are settled in the United States, starting their married life in earnest. But Omar still has a lot of family in Syria.
Avery has now shared the tragic news that Omar lost five close relatives in this month’s deadly earthquake.
Early on Sunday morning, February 12, Avery Mills took to Instagram to share something exciting.
“It is with great sadness that Omar lost 5 close family members to the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria,” he began.
“What we thought was only 4 is now 5 dead,” Avery added. “3 out of 5 victims are minors.”
“Our hearts ache as do many other families in Turkey and Syria,” Avery said.
He concluded by writing: “May God ease the pain.”
Although Avery did not name the deceased, he shared a carousel of photos. It appears that the entire family of five has now passed.
On February 6, 2023, a powerful earthquake – magnitude 7.8 or greater – struck central and southern Turkey and northern and western Syria.
An unusual aftershock struck a few hours later, coming in at a magnitude of 7.7.
It was the region’s most destructive earthquake since the 1930s. It destroyed their homes; it flattened the whole neighborhood. Ancient buildings that had withstood earthquakes for centuries collapsed into ruins.
As of this writing, the estimated death toll is over 36,000. That number may rise.
Some in the hospital may have sustained injuries. And of course there are still people buried in the rubble who will not survive this horror.
But many thousands were killed within minutes of the devastating tectonic activity. This is a catastrophic loss of human life. And many of the survivors find themselves living in abject misery – surrounded by ruins and death.
Viewers got to know Avery and Omar on 90 Day Fiance in 2019.
Avery initially received criticism from the audience. She is a young woman, and her recent conversion to Islam has some wondering whether she really knows who she is. And some wondered if he really understood the situation in Syria during the ongoing civil war.
Frankly, a lot of the backlash he received came from a place of bigotry. Avery has discussed this.
But Omar and Avery won over fans with their genuine love story. Avery proved that he is not the “shard” that some critics call him.
Both of them are now living and living in the US, finally.
Our hearts go out to him and to Umar’s family as they grieve this loss. We offer our condolences to the tens of thousands who lost their lives in this heartbreaking disaster.