Chin Refugee Young Man Drowned in USA
02 September 2011: A Chin refugee from Burma, Sang Cung Hnin, died while swimming at a Deception Pass State Park lake near Whidbey Island in Washington State, USA last Saturday.
The tragic incident happened while the 18-year-old Chin, who was known to be a healthy and good swimmer, was at the lake with his friends from a Kent church, according to Whidbey News Times.
Sang Cung Hnin was claimed to be a ‘healthy’ young man as a postmortem examination showed no sign of reasons for suffocating in water.
It was believed that he might have a ‘muscular contraction’ while he was swimming in the deeper areas of the lake, alongside the church members.
Sang Cung Hnin was seen raising his hands and shouting for help as he went to a watery grave.
His body was found after nearly an hour and taken to the hospital for an autopsy. It was recorded that his death was an accidental drowning as no evidence as to what had caused the tragedy was not known.
Sang Cung Hnin and his family arrived in the US two weeks ago from Malaysia under the UNHCR Resettlement programme after fleeing military-ruled Burma.
Reporting by Thawng Zel Thang