Just three months after her arrival in Australia, a swimming excursion with friends on Tuesday turned tragic for a Kenyan student in Australia after she drowned.
Sharon Jepkosgei Kigen, who was still new in the country after arriving in Australia in November 2022, drowned in Sydney’s southwest on Tuesday afternoon, according to 9News.
Emergency services were called to Georges River at Macquarie Fields after she “failed to resurface” when swimming at about 3.45 pm local time.
New South Wales (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.
Ms Kigen hailed from Moiben, Uasin Gishu, and now her family is appealing for financial assistance to repatriate her body to Kenya for burial.
Her family and friends have since set up a GoFundMe page to collect money and are targeting to raise Sh2.5 million (AUD$20,000) to enable her body repatriated to Kenya.
