Tragedy as Kenyan student drowns in Australian lake
Police in Western Australia on September 12, 2023, recovered the body of a 23-year-old Kenyan student who drowned while swimming at a popular South West spot at the weekend.
Orville Kimutai Tures was last seen going for a swim in Stockton Lake on September 9, 2023, near the town of Collie when he went missing.
A statement by Western Australian Police indicates other swimmers who were around when Tures drowned were unable to save him when the incident happened.
“About 3:15 pm on September 9, 2023, a male in his 20s went swimming in Stockton Lake, in Shotts (Collie). The male required assistance in the water and was unable to be helped by members of the public on shore. Police attended the scene and commenced a search,” the statement read in part.
Police divers recovered the body of Tures in water about 20 metres from the bank.
Tures, who hails from Kapteren in Elgeyo Marakwet went to Australia in March this year. He was a student at a university in Perth.
Police said that Tures’s family have been advised of the development as they wait for a report to be prepared for the Coroner.
His family and friends have since set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to enable his body repatriated to Kenya.
They are requesting members of the public for support and prayers during this difficult time, as well as contributions towards the funeral expenses slated at the end of the month.
The latest incident comes just months after another Kenyan student also died in a swimming excursion in the same country.
Sharon Jepkosgei Kigen, who was still new in the country after arriving in Australia in November 2022, drowned at Sydney’s south-west in February 2023, according to 9News.
Emergency services were called to Georges River at Macquarie Fields after she “failed to resurface” when swimming.
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 was laid to rest after her family and friends set up a GoFundMe page to collect money to enable her body repatriated to Kenya.
The family managed to raise Sh4 million through the platform.
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