An inquest has begun into the deaths of four members of a family who died after encountering difficulties in the sea near Shoreham. Hussam El-Khawas, 55, Zeina Alayan, 37, and their 13-year-old daughter Sara El-Khawas were pronounced dead after being brought ashore by lifeboat crews on August 18. Their younger daughter, Saja El-Khawas, died three days later at the Evelina Children's Hospital in London.
Senior coroner Penelope Scholfield opened and adjourned the inquest to March 2027, offering her condolences to the wider family. Saja, aged six, was resuscitated but exhibited signs of brain injury during her treatment. Provisional causes of death for the other family members have not yet been released.
The family resided in northwest London, where El-Khawas worked as a construction worker, and Alayan was a homemaker, the inquest in Horsham was told. Both parents were Lebanese nationals holding British passports, while their children were born in Kensington. The Palestinian embassy previously stated that El-Khawas was a Palestinian refugee from the Rashidieh Camp in Lebanon.
Authorities believe the family traveled from their London home to visit Shoreham and entered the water from the beach near Shoreham Fort around 2:00 PM BST. They subsequently encountered difficulties in the sea.