Heartbroken Australian supermodel Adut Akech reveals her seven-year-old cousin has drowned in a neighbour’s swimming pool
Australian supermodel Adut Akech has been left shattered by the tragic death of her seven-year-old cousin Ajok Garang’s this week.
Ajok drowned in a neighbour’s backyard pool in Para Hills West, Adelaide, on Tuesday evening, leaving his family reeling.
Adut’s connection to the tragedy became apparent on Thursday, after the Los Angeles-based model, 21, uploaded a heartbreaking Instagram tribute to her ‘sweet, innocent baby cousin’.
Devastated: Australian supermodel Adut Akech, 21, (pictured) has been left shattered after learning that her seven-year-old cousin Ajok Garang drowned in a swimming pool this week
Posting to Instagram Stories, the South Sudan-born beauty shared a news article about Ajok’s family remembering him as a ‘lovely, affectionate and caring child’, while adding the caption: ‘My sweet innocent baby cousin. You didn’t deserve this. I’m so sorry this happened to you.’
‘You were just a baby. We love you and miss you so much already Ajok [crying emoji, broken heart emojis],’ she added.
In another post, the Vogue covergirl shared a recent photo of Ajok with the caption: ‘I wish you didn’t leave us. We need you. You’ll forever be in our hearts and minds. Love you my sweet boy Ajok [dove emoji, crying emoji, broken heart emojis]’.
Reeling: Posting to Instagram Stories on Thursday, LA-based Adut shared a news article about Ajok’s family remembering him as a ‘lovely, affectionate and caring child’, while adding the caption: ‘My sweet innocent baby cousin. You didn’t deserve this. I’m so sorry this happened to you’
Heartbroken: In another post, the Vogue covergirl shared a recent photo of Ajok with the caption: ‘I wish you didn’t leave us. We need you. You’ll forever be in our hearts and minds. Love you my sweet boy Ajok’
Adut said she is ‘not ok’ and that the past week has ‘been so mentally and emotionally draining.
Ajok was found unresponsive in a neighbour’s pool after jumping the fence at a Goodfield Rd property in Para Hills West, Adelaide, early on Tuesday evening.
The boy’s mother, Amuor Aliers, was inside cleaning and looking after her newborn when she heard her children call her from their backyard.
Childhood: Akech was born in South Sudan and raised in Kenya, before moving at age six to Australia with her mother and five siblings as Sudanese refugees
‘I could hear the boys playing but then I heard a neighbour say “your boy’s in the pool”,’ Ms Aliers told Adelaide Now.
By the time she was able to gain access to her neighbour’s property to help, Ajok, 20 minutes had passed.
The grief-stricken parents performed CPR on their son to try and revive him, while neighbours called for help.
Anguish: Adut also shared several updates on her mental health, revealing that she is ‘not ok’ and that the past week has ‘been so mentally and emotionally draining’
Despite efforts from paramedics to try and save the boy, he tragically died at the scene.
‘I wish I had died before my son, I don’t want to bury my son before myself,’ Ms Aliers said.
Ajok was reportedly in the water for 20minutes before the alarm was raised.
Tragedy: Ajok was found unresponsive in a neighbour’s pool after jumping the fence at a Goodfield Rd property in Para Hills West, Adelaide, early on Tuesday evening. Adut shared this post on Thursday as she broke her silence on the family tragedy
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