{"id":456831,"date":"2026-02-04T01:29:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/456831\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T01:29:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T01:29:14","slug":"friends-devastated-after-body-of-chinese-international-student-found-two-days-after-he-vanished","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/456831\/","title":{"rendered":"Friends devastated after body of Chinese international student found two days after he vanished"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u201ccheerful and easygoing\u201d Chinese<\/a> international student has drowned while trying out a newly purchased diving mask in Sydney\u2019s<\/a> east.<\/p>\n

Fangqi Peng, 30, was with three friends collecting sea snails at Maroubra Beach on Sunday afternoon when he decided to enter the water to test the mask.<\/p>\n

Photos obtained by 7NEWS.com.au show Peng wearing the diving mask shortly before he went into the water about 3.10pm.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Arrow<\/a><\/p>\n

A friend of Peng, who asked to be identified only by his surname Lee, remembered him as a cheerful and easygoing person.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was kind-hearted, easygoing and a genuinely good person. He was like a little ray of sunshine, always smiling at everyone he met,\u201d Lee told 7NEWS.com.au.<\/p>\n

\"PengPeng was seen wearing the diving mask shortly before he went into the water. Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

Lee said it was his first time collecting seafood with the trio, who had done it together previously.<\/p>\n

He and two other friends \u2014 a man and a woman \u2014 continued searching for sea snails along the shoreline while Peng went swimming alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe distance between us was really far, and the rocks blocked our view, so we couldn\u2019t see him at all,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

He said it was only when the group planned to head home that they realised Peng had not returned<\/a>, after telling them he would \u201cbe right back\u201d.<\/p>\n

Emergency services were called to the beach about 4pm, prompting a search.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe group was collecting sea snails at Maroubra Beach. Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

NSW Police<\/a> on Tuesday confirmed a man\u2019s body was located about 12.20pm, which was \u201cbelieved to be that of the missing swimmer\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lee said Peng often visited Maroubra Beach to collect sea snails and was confident in the water.<\/p>\n

Peng had moved to Australia from Harbin in northeast China more than two years ago and was studying while working part-time in construction.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of his friends who know him have been feeling really bad these past few days,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard for everyone to accept this, because it all happened so suddenly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another friend described Peng as a kind person who cared deeply for his parents.<\/p>\n

A report will be prepared for the coroner.<\/p>\n

\"AA body has been found during the search for a swimmer who went missing at a beach in Sydney\u2019s east. Credit: Marine Rescue NSW<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A \u201ccheerful and easygoing\u201d Chinese international student has drowned while trying out a newly purchased diving mask in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[512,43,44,5847,4277,670,41,39,42,40,3792],"class_list":["post-456831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-china","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-nsw-news","tag-nsw-police","tag-sydney","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}