The body of the Kenyan student who drowned in February while swimming in Australia has landed in Kenya and moved to Eldoret, her hometown.
Sharon Jepkosgei Kigen, who hailed from Moiben in Uasin Gishu County, drowned in Sydney’s southwest according to area police.
The family had appealed for help to repatriate her body. Kenyans living in Australia came together to also fundraise for the cause.
People who turned out at the airport looked on in sorrow as the hearse carrying the deceased was carried and set down for viewing.
The body was later moved to the Eldoret hospital mortuary in readiness for the lates funeral mass set for Tuesday, March 14.
According to a video on Delight Funeral Directors on Twitter, Sharons body arrived on Sunday March 12.
She left Kenya for in Australia in November 2022 to attend a course at the Australian Catholic university-North Sydney.
Rescuers were alerted to the pool – Georges River at Macquarie Fields – after she failed to resurface when swimming at about 3.45 pm.
Local area police began a search and resscue effort.
“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.
This drownign comes barely 6 months after another Kenyan also lost her life in a pool in Canada while livestreamign on Facebook.
In August 2022, a Kenya nurse by the name Helen Nyabuto was having a good time swimming when she suddenly drowned in a horrifying video that went viral online.
Hellen, 24, was seen speaking to online viewers at the shallow end of the pool before swimming off the screen into the deeper water.