New York Daily News

N.J. doc falls to death on Spanish isle

- BY AUSTIN FENNER AND SHANT SHAHRIGIAN

A soon-to-wed New Jersey doctor embarking on a promising medical career fell to his death from a cliff on the balmy Mediterran­ean isle of Ibiza, shocked relatives said Sunday.

Dr. Daniel Sirovich, 34, was vacationin­g with his fiancée, 28-year-old Kristi Kelly, when he died Wednesday trying to get a photo from the edge of a cliff on the Spanish island.

It was the last day of their trip.

“Let me go first so you don’t fall,” Sirovich told Kelly as they clambered to the cliff’s edge, his brother Lucas Calhau recounted to the Daily News.

Suddenly, Sirovich slipped and fell about 80 feet from the cliff, near Pedrera de Cala d’Hort on the island’s southwest coast.

An off-duty nurse tried to assist him after the fall, but he could not be saved, EuroWeekly­News reported.

“It’s a horrible end to a beautiful romance,” Kristi Kelly’s mom, Mary Ann Kelly, told the Staten Island Advance.

Sirovich was about to start a new job at an intensive care trauma unit in Boston, his relative said on a GoFundMe page seeking help returning his body to the U.S. and paying for his funeral.

Calhau, 26, recalled his brother had so much energy, his nickname was “Chernobyl.” Sirovich volunteere­d his medical services overseas, including in the Philippine­s, Calhau said.

“He was a great man,” Calhau said. “He was always looking to help people out.”

Kristi Kelly was still in Spain as of Sunday, said Calhau. He added that his parents flew over to help her recover her fiancé’s body.

“He gave 120% in everything he did, from his studies, to work, to loving Kristi, his family and friends,” Sirovich’s family said on the GoFundMe page.

Sirovich, who did his residency at a Miami hospital, graduated at the top of his medical school class, his brother said. Asked how he is coping with the tragedy, Calhau said, “I’m trying not to think about it.”

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