The family of a young woman who drowned at a Sydney beach this week have organised a fundraiser to take her body back to Nepal, as her friend remains missing.

Shristi Bhandari, 23, was found on the northern end of Maroubra Beach by a jogger at 6am on Tuesday morning.

She had arrived in Sydney just two weeks earlier to study a Masters of Accounting as an international student.

Friends said Ms Bhandari went to the beach with her friend Sudeep Uprety, 26, who is also from Nepal, on Monday night.