By Max Maddison
A horror drowning in the Georges River in Sydney’s southwest has left a one-year-old boy without his mother and two siblings, while friends of the family said they were “absolutely and deeply shocked” by the tragedy.
Hoai Nguyen, 32, and her two children, Mitchell, 7, and Hazel, 5, drowned after they fell from a pier into the river at Floyd Bay in Lansvale around 10.15am on Saturday. A coronial inquest will be established to understand how the mother and her children ended up in the water.
A GoFundMe set up by a family friend had raised nearly $17,000 as of 1.30pm on Sunday. The father and the family’s youngest child, Macario, would be left behind, the fundraiser said.
Mitchell, 7, and Hazel, 5, tragically drowned at Floyd Bay on Saturday.Credit: Tuy Nguyen
“I am fundraising on behalf of Hoai (32), Mitchell (7) and Hazel (5) and Macario (1),” the page stated. “We hope to raise funds to aid the funeral and to assist the father to look after young Macario in this time of grief.”
The family part was well-known in the Vietnamese community around Fairfield. One friend named Tue Le on Facebook referred to Hoai as her “sister” and said they had spoken just two days before the tragedy. She urged her followers to contribute to the GoFundMe.
Another post by Tuy Nguyen said the father had been working on Saturday when the drownings occurred. Fundraising contributions would go towards bringing the bodies of Mitchell and Hazel back to Vietnam for burial, where their youngest brother currently lives, Nguyen said.
Le and Nguyen were contacted for comment.
Police search the water on Saturday.Credit: Rhett Wyman
Despite being pulled from the water, the mother could not be revived at the scene. The boy and his sister were found three hours later after an extensive search and rescue mission which involved more than 100 personnel and commandeering boats and a jet ski from members of the public.
Police divers located one body near the pier and the other about 100 metres downstream around 2pm. A strong current was present when the children fell in the river, NSW Police said, and was one of several environmental factors that inhibited the search effort.
Speaking outside Fairfield police station on Saturday afternoon, Acting Superintendent Luke Scott said the trio were believed to have been visiting the park before walking down to a small pier on the waterfront when they ended up in the river.
“These are completely tragic circumstances that anybody can feel for, not just the family, and anybody who observed what happened,” he said. “It’s beyond words. Absolutely tragic.”
State Emergency Service chief inspector Christian Young said a significant number of emergency service members were involved in the land, water and air search.
“The water was flowing, and the tide was turning soon after,” he said. “It has to be a group effort because it was such a large space that we were searching at the time.”
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