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Four members of a Palestinian Muslim family have died following a catastrophic coastal incident after getting into severe difficulty off Kingston Beach in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, an inquest at Horsham Coroner's Court has heard. Hussam El-Khawas, a 55-year-old construction professional, his wife Zeina Alayan, 37, and their elder daughter Sara, 14, were pulled unresponsive from the water on the afternoon of 18 August. The family’s youngest child, six-year-old Saja, was resuscitated at the scene but succumbed to fatal brain injuries in hospital three days later. The close-knit Muslim family, who fled displacement to build a life in north-west London, had travelled to the Sussex coastline for an afternoon excursion before encountering lethal conditions near the entrance of Shoreham Fort.
Coroner’s officer Kelly Truss formally detailed the timeline of the emergency response before Senior Coroner Penelope Schofield. Volunteer crews from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) launched rescue craft following frantic emergency calls from beachgoers reporting swimmers in acute distress near the mouth of the harbour around 2:00 pm. Lifeguards and paramedics retrieved Mr El-Khawas, Ms Alayan, and Sara directly to Kingston Beach. Resuscitation attempts proved unsuccessful, and all three were pronounced dead upon arrival at the nearby RNLI lifeboat station.
First responders managed to re-establish a heartbeat in six-year-old Saja before transferring her under blue lights to the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton. The child was subsequently moved to the specialised paediatric intensive care unit at the Evelina Children’s Hospital, situated within St Thomas’ Hospital in London. Despite intensive therapeutic intervention, clinicians observed persistent neurological devastation. Speaking to Daily Dazzling Dawn, medical correspondents noted that Dr Hawa Sesay recorded the provisional clinical cause of death as hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy resulting directly from drowning. The court heard that official post-mortem findings for the remaining three family members remain pending comprehensive toxicology and histology assessments.
The tragedy has resonated deeply across Britain’s Muslim and Arab diaspora, shedding light on the family’s remarkable journey of perseverance. Diplomatic records confirmed by the Palestinian Embassy identify Mr El-Khawas as a Palestinian refugee born in January 1971 inside the Rashidieh camp near Tyre in southern Lebanon. His wife, Zeina Alayan, was born in the same settlement in March 1989. Both held Lebanese origin and British citizenship, eventually settling in Craven Park, Harlesden. Sara was born in Kensington in October 2012, followed by Saja in December 2019.
Community leaders told journalists that the El-Khawas household maintained deep cultural ties to their ancestral heritage while actively engaging in their local London neighbourhood. The Palestinian Forum in Britain immediately mobilised a national bereavement campaign, establishing a mutual-aid fund to assist next-of-kin with repatriation logistics and traditional Islamic funeral rites. The fund surpassed its initial £20,000 target within days, drawing hundreds of individual contributions from mosques, refugee support networks, and residents across the United Kingdom.
Sussex Police detectives confirmed that parallel investigations are progressing to determine precisely how the family encountered distress. Detective teams reviewed shoreline closed-circuit television recordings and cross-referenced testimony from maritime witnesses who observed the group wading into the surf near Shoreham Fort. Officers confirmed there is no evidence of third-party involvement, treating the incident as an accidental drowning exacerbated by rapid tidal variations along the Adur estuary.
Senior Coroner Penelope Schofield expressed profound condolences to surviving relatives, formally acknowledging next-of-kin Adnan Al-Kwass, brother of Mr El-Khawas. Proceedings were officially adjourned until 16 March 2027 to allow Sussex Police to complete their final forensic collision and water-safety analysis. Maritime safety organisations have renewed warnings regarding hidden undercurrents, steep drop-offs, and estuary tidal rips that frequently catch unwary coastal visitors off guard along the English Channel.
