"Unimaginable sorrow": Mother and two children drown during family outing
A mother and two children have died after struggling to swim in a Sydney waterway, with tributes and donations flowing in to support the grieving father.
Hoai Nguyen, 32, and her two children, Mitchell, seven, and Hazel, five, were enjoying a day out at Shearer Park in south-west Sydney on Sunday, when they were spotted in distress in the waters of the Georges River.
Hoai was pulled from the river, but despite the best efforts of bystanders and paramedics, she was unable to be revived.
Police and volunteers from the State Emergency Service launched a large search and rescue operation for the two children, with divers locating their bodies in the water hours later, metres from a jetty.
According to 9News, the children's father and Hoai's husband had been at work during the incident and was only alerted to the tragedy when police showed up at his house.
A GoFundMe page has been set up by a family friend to support the children's father, Hoai's husband, and their one-year-old brother during the "time of unimaginable sorrow".
"A beloved mother and her two young children tragically drowned... leaving behind a profound void in our hearts and a father and baby who is only 1 years old," the fundraiser reads.
An investigation into how the mother and her children ended up in the water is ongoing, as NSW Police acting superintendent Luke Scott yesterday described the tragedy as "beyond words".
Image credits: GoFundMe