Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei has died after being set on fire by her boyfriend in Kenya, Uganda's Olympic Committee chief said on Thursday.
"We have learnt of the sad passing on of our Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei... following a vicious attack by her boyfriend," Donald Rukare said in a post on X.
The death of the Ugandan Olympian comes two days after officials said she was taken to the intensive care unit in a Kenyan hospital.
She was doused with petrol and set on fire allegedly by her partner, officials said Tuesday, the latest horrific incident of gender-based violence in the East African country.
Long-distance runner Rebecca Cheptegei, 33, was assaulted after her Kenyan partner Dickson Ndiema Marangach reportedly snuck into her home in Endebess in the western county of Trans-Nzoia at around 2:00 pm on Sunday while she and her children were at church, police said.
"Dickson, who had procured petrol, began pouring (it) on Rebecca before he set her ablaze," a police report said, adding that he was also injured by the flames.
It said that neighbours had rescued the pair and taken them to nearby Kitale County Referral Hospital, where they were admitted with "multiple burns."
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