A Kenyan student drowned Tuesday while on a swimming session in Australia.
The family of the Kenyan student is now appealing for financial assistance to repatriate her body to Kenya for burial.
Sharon Jepkosgei Kigen, who hailed from Moiben in Uasin Gishu County, drowned in Sydney’s southwest on Tuesday afternoon, 9News reported.
She arrived in Australia in November 2022 and was a student at Australian Catholic university-North Sydney.
Emergency services were called to Georges River at Macquarie Fields after the woman failed to resurface when swimming at about 3.45 pm.
NSW Police said they searched the water to find her.
“Officers from The Traffic and Highway Patrol entered the water along with members of the public and commenced to search the water where the woman was located and brought to the shoreline,” NSW Police said in a statement.
NSW Ambulance paramedics performed Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) but she could not be revived.
She was a student at Australian Catholic University-North Sydney. Family and friends are targeting to raise Sh2.5 million (AUD$20,000) to enable the body of Sharon to be repatriated to Kenya.
This is the second incident of drowning to happen in less than six months of a Kenyan abroad.
In August last year, many watched in horror as a healthcare worker drowned in a pool while filming a Facebook live stream.
Hellen Nyabuto, a Kenyan nursing student working in Canada, died during the stream.
Hellen, 24, was seen speaking to viewers at the shallow end of the pool before swimming off the screen into the deeper water.
Her body was later brought to Kenya for burial.
