A young international student from Thailand drowned in a tragic accident at a popular swimming spot in Australia.
Reemeh Beh, 20, was with her boyfriend and best friend at Lerderderg Gorge, in Melbourne’s west end, on December 6 when she slipped on some rocks and fell into the water.
Her boyfriend jumped after her but was unable to remove his foot, which had become trapped in the debris about three meters below the surface of the water.
Emergency services were called shortly afterwards and he was transported to hospital for minor treatment, but there was no sign of Ms Beh, who never reappeared.
It took Victoria Police search and rescue divers approximately four hours to discover the young woman’s body and confirm the tragic outcome of her fall.
Ms Beh was about to launch into her adult life, having just graduated from Geelong’s Northern Bay College and landed a full-time job in aged care.
Her father and his boyfriend had also recently bought a house because they were planning to get married and take the Australian citizenship test.
But their lives have been turned upside down by her tragic death, and they now have little to spend on Ms Beh’s funeral, their friend Sophie Nawnyo told Daily Mail Australia.
Reemeh Beh’s (pictured) family and friends were left stunned after she drowned at a popular swimming spot while celebrating graduating from school and getting a job.
Ms Nawnyo met Ms Beh through the close-knit Thai community in Geelong before working at Northern Bay College as their liaison.
Just one day before she died, Mrs. Beh was beaming with joy, telling him about her new job and her plans for the future with her partner.
“They were planning to get married, they bought a house together and she just got a job, her mother was excited for her to graduate too.
‘Everything was going well, you know? And everything collapsed.”
Nawnyo added that the family was devastated by the untimely death, especially her mother who depended on her to get by.
“She was very kind, her mother’s English is not perfect and she trusted Reemeh to translate when she had an appointment at a medical center or Centrelink,” he said.
Ms Beh was planning to marry her boyfriend of almost three years, with whom she was to take the Australian citizenship test earlier this week.
The 20-year-old is the second person to drown in water next to the MacKenzies Flat picnic area in Lerderderg Gorge, in Melbourne’s west end (pictured), in just over a year.
“His family was not prepared for this loss and the funeral costs,” Ms. Nawnyo wrote to the GoFundMe page.
“We want to give Reemeh the tribute she deserves and say our final goodbyes without worrying about how it will be paid.”
His funeral is scheduled to take place on Saturday.
Beh is the second person to drown at the popular swimming spot in just over a year, prompting an urgent warning from local authorities.
“Although from the shores the water appears shallow and calm, in some places it is more than three meters deep,” the Bacchus Marsh SES unit reported in a statement on social media.
“There are signs warning of dangers for swimmers and we recommend that if you don’t know how to swim, don’t enter the water.”
They confirmed Parks Victoria had visited the site alongside police and had been in talks to make the area safer.
“Ultimately, this is a natural bush environment in which rainfall and currents periodically change the depth, direction and debris of the water,” the statement reads.
“There is no consistent ‘deep end,’ so caution should be exercised.”