A scenic view of Bali Photos: CFP and Yang Lan/GT

 
Johnny, the husband of popular Ukrainian cosplayer Karina Melnychuk, has been confirmed to have died in a drowning incident in Bali, Indonesia, as reported by the Sichuan-based chengdu.cn media outlet on Thursday.

On Wednesday, online rumors about Karina’s husband Johnny drowning in Bali, Indonesia, went viral on China’s Twitter-like platform Sina Weibo. Multiple related hashtags were at the top of the trending list on the platform.

According to Indonesian media reports, the Bali Special Administrative Region (SAR) Team found the body of a foreign national with the initials XFJ (34) on that day. He was swept away while swimming at Batu Belig Beach, North Kuta District, Badung Regency, Bali.

The news also mentioned that the victim had been swept away while swimming with a Ukrainian woman on Tuesday. Many netizens speculated that the deceased was Johnny, Karina’s husband.

Karina is a model from Ukraine who is popular in China's cosplay circle. She has successfully portrayed many popular anime and game characters, attracting a large number of fans to comic exhibitions. She has a total of more than 3.6 million followers on Weibo and the lifestyle-sharing platform Xiaohongshu. Her husband is also an internet celebrity, with more than 540 followers on Weibo alone.

On the evening of Wednesday, the Denpasar SAR office of Bali confirmed to chengdu.cn that the passport name of the deceased was Huang Xiaofeng, which is Johnny's name in Chinese pinyin. His English name was Xiao Fong Johnny (abbreviated as XFJ). He was 34 years old and from China; his wife, Karina Melynychuk, is from Ukraine and is a model. His name, location, and birthday are consistent with the identity information of Karina’s husband.

The hotel manager of the resort where Karina and her husband stayed told chengdu.cn that according to his passport identity, Huang Xiaofeng's birthday was November 7, which was also the date of his disappearance. The hotel manager mentioned that the two seemed to have a good relationship and were very happy together. They arrived on Monday night and went to the beach the next day. Karina's friends joined them at the beach, and then the disappearance occurred.

Staff from the police station in the jurisdiction of the beach told chengdu.cn that the investigation results showed that he was struck by a large log in the sea while swimming, causing him to drown. As of Thursday night, the hashtag about the cause of Johnny’s death had garnered more than 3.5 million views, with over 5,500 comments.

Police stated that the incident did not involve foul play and was a pure accident.