Kenyan student Sharon Jepkosgei Kigen drowns in Australia 3 months after settling

The family of a Kenyan student who drowned during a swimming activity in Australia is seeking financial assistance to repatriate her body back home for burial.

Sharon Jepkosgei Kigen arrived in Australia in November 2022 and was studying at Australian Catholic University-North Sydney when the tragic incident occurred.

According to reports, she drowned in Georges River in Sydney's south-west on Tuesday, February 21 afternoon while swimming with friends. A video shared online showed efforts by emergency services to revive her, which did not bear fruits as she had already passed.

In the wake of her death, Jepkosgei's family and friends have began fundraising for the repatriation of her body to Kenya. Jepkosgei's family is appealing to well-wishers to donate generously to help bring their daughter's body back home for a proper burial.

The family has set up a Gofund Me page and is looking to raise close to Sh2.5 million which will enable the remains of Jepkosgei to get home for her final send-off.

Emergency service providers trying to resuscitate Sharon Kigen Pulse Live Kenya

Friends and family have since donated Sh530,000 towards the final send-off of Jepkosgei.

The death of Jepkosgei comes nearly six months after another Canadian-based Kenyan drowned in a swimming pool while going live on Facebook.

READ: Kenyan secures Sh44M after dazzling US Shark Tank investors with her genius idea [Video]

With her phone recording, Wendy dived into the water severally, retreating occasionally to read the comments on the live video that was being watched by her followers on social media.

She made what would be her last dive at 10 minutes and 33 seconds and could be heard gasping for air and making gurgling sounds while kicking and screaming for help.

Shortly afterwards, she made the last sound and the water remained still even as the video went on recording for 3 hours.