A Kenyan student, Sharon Jepkosgei Kigen, drowned while on a swimming session in Australia on Tuesday afternoon. She hailed from Moiben in Uasin Gishu County 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 searched the water to find her, and she was eventually located and brought to the shoreline. NSW Ambulance paramedics performed Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) but she could not be revived.
The family of Sharon Jepkosgei Kigen is now appealing for financial assistance to repatriate her body to Kenya for burial. Family and friends are targeting to raise Sh2.5 million (AUD$20,000) for the repatriation process.
This is the second incident of drowning to happen in less than six months of a Kenyan abroad. In August last year, a healthcare worker, Hellen Nyabuto, drowned in a pool while filming a Facebook live stream. She was a Kenyan nursing student working in Canada, and her body was later brought to Kenya for burial.
