Health Worker Living in Canada Drowned in Swimming Pool During Live Stream: 'It Is Terrible,' Says Dad
A young woman tragically drowned during a swim that was streamed live on Facebook earlier this month.
Hellen Wendy Nyabuto, who was born in Kenya and worked in Canada, died in a hotel pool in Chatsworth, a township in Ontario, on Aug. 18, NBC News reported.
In the video, which has now been deleted, Nyabuto was initially seen smiling in the shallow end of the pool, according to The Toronto Star. A few minutes later, the newspaper reported that she swam to the deeper end of the pool and began struggling.
According to the Star, she could be heard calling for help before the video went silent.
Hours later, her body was seen at the bottom of the pool, according to CNN.
"An individual was removed from the water and pronounced deceased after life-saving measures were unsuccessful," the Ontario Provincial Police said, per NBC News. The outlet reported that police say her death remains under investigation but is not considered suspicious.
The Ontario Provincial Police did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
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Nyabuto had been living in Toronto for the past three years and worked part-time as a health worker while studying nursing in Collingwood, her family told CNN. According to the outlet, she was 23, although the Toronto Star reported she was 24.
GoFundMe Hellen Wendy Nyabuto
According to her father, she was doing fine prior to the accident. "She communicated with me two days before she perished," Nyabuto John Kiyondi told the outlet. "She sounded very fine and I was very happy."
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Her father told the outlet that he did watch the video.
"I cried," he said. "It is terrible."
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In a message shared on a GoFundMe page, Nyabuto's brother wrote that she had "a warm smile and a charming heart."
"Everyone who met Wendy had their spirits lifted. She was passionate about her work and she touched many hearts," wrote her brother, Enock Nyabuto.
She also helped support her loved ones back home in Kenya. "Hellen was the breadwinner back home for her family," Alfonce Nyamwaya, Nyabuto's close friend, told the Toronto Star.
"All the financial responsibilities (of their family in Kenya) were on her," her brother told CNN.
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Now, her family is trying to raise money to help cover funeral and burial arrangements.
"We are soliciting your generous donation to repatriate her body to Nairobi, Kenya as per the wishes of our family," her brother wrote on the fundraising page.
"According to our tradition, one is supposed to be buried where he or she was born," her father told CNN. "I'll not feel comfortable, psychologically, if my daughter is buried away from Kenya."
As of Thursday, donations have now surpassed their initial goal of 50,000 Canadian dollars (around $38,000).
