The family of a Vietnamese student who was found dead in Dortmund last week is calling for donations to help them afford a flight to the German city to bring her home.

The fundraising was initiated by Tran Kim Ngan, the older sister of Tran Thi Thu Ha, who had been studying at the Haaga – Helia University of Applied Sciences in Finland on a full scholarship before her death.

“On March 7, my younger sister left Finland for Germany to attend a student exchange program at the ISM International School of Management Dortmund, and my family lost contact with her between March 9 and 15,” Ngan wrote on her Facebook page.

According to the sister’s account, Ha traveled from Helsinki to the German city of Dusseldorf on a City Jet flight, with a transit stop in Oslo. She arrived in Dusseldorf and boarded a train to Dortmund on March 8 and lost contact with her family the following day.

Ha’s family then sought help from her friends in Finland and Germany to find the student, and was shocked to learn that the 21-year-old died on March 11 in Dortmund, according to the city’s police chief.

“This is a huge shock for my family,” Ngan wrote. “Our dad just passed away ten months ago and now it is my little sister’s turn.”

A screenshot of the Facebook update of Tran Kim Ngan.

The older sister said the family had to call for help from the online community as they are financially unable to afford a flight to Dortmund to “see [her] sister and taker her home.”

A Facebook event with donation information has been opened to help the family reach the EUR50,000 (US$61,000) goal as soon as possible.

The sister did not mention any possible cause of the death of Ha in her initial status.

In the latest post on Sunday, Ngan said her family was still “trying to get in touch with [Ha’s] school and the [Vietnamese] Consulate General [in Germany] to have the full and most detailed information about this murder case,” apparently referring to it as a murder.

However, VietnamPlus, a publication of the official Vietnam News Agency, said in a Sunday report, citing Dortmund police, that the girl committed a suicide.

A screenshot of the Facebook event on the fundraising for Tran Thi Thu Ha.

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