Kumar, an international student at Air Hawke's Bay Flight Academy, drowned on that day on December 21, 2018, a coroner's report released publicly for the first time has revealed.
His death is one of two high profile international student drownings in Hawke's Bay in the past five years, and has prompted a new course by Water Safety New Zealand (WSNZ).
It has partnered with EdTech company AgentBee to increase international student awareness of water safety and prevent drownings through an online course for education agents.
While the New Zealand Government says it is unlikely that international students will be able to enter the country this year, it is working on options for their return in early 2021.
The online course will provide key information on water safety in New Zealand which agents can pass on to international students and their families.
Aman Kumar's death is one that has prompted a new water safety course for international students. Photo / Supplied
WSNZ CEO Jonty Mills said data showed that international students in New Zealand were at "particular risk" of drowning.
"By working with AgentBee we can ensure that more international students coming here understand the basics of water safety specific to New Zealand conditions."
AgentBee's Geoff Field said education agents wee responsible for recruiting almost 50 per cent of international students who enrolled in New Zealand's universities.
"Agents deal face-to-face with students and their families before they leave their home countries, so they present a great opportunity to start early messaging on water safety."
The course covers critical water safety issues, including beach safety, river safety, cold water survival and New Zealand's Water Safety Code.
"Many educational institutions do a good job of educating international students on water safety when they arrive in New Zealand" said Mills.
"But encouraging education agents to take the course can start that important messaging earlier in the student's study abroad journey.
"The aim is to ensure that more international students arrive with an awareness of the risks in New Zealand, and where to get more information to keep themselves safe."
Coroner Tracey Fitzgibbon's report concluded that Kumar had some swimming ability based on the information provided by his family.
His family told her that Kumar was a trained swimmer and completed his classes with a swimming institute.
The fact that he had been in shallow water at the bottom of the falls for about an hour before climbing to the top suggested he was comfortable, she wrote.
Fitzgibbon wrote that there were no other medical factors that could have caused Kumar's death.
"It is not clear why he got into difficulties in the water and there is insufficient evidence to make a finding on this issue."
Three years prior to Kumar's death a 16-year-old Korean student at New Horizon College of English in Napier died while swimming at Waitangi Lagoon in Awatoto.
The student went swimming with another international student and their host family, in a sheltered finger of the estuary 250m from where water from the Ngaruroro, Tutaekuri and Clive rivers enter the sea.
Police, on the day, said it appeared he had "gone out of his depth and got into trouble, which a lot of people do".
The Water Safety New Zealand course is available now on AgentBee.
