Four family members died after being pulled from the sea off the Sussex coast, an inquest has heard.
Hussam El-Khawas, 55, his wife Zeina Alayan, 37, older daughter Sara El-Khawas, 14, and youngest daughter Saja El-Khawas, six, died after members of the public reported them ‘getting into trouble in the sea’.
Saja was rescued from the water at Shoreham-by-Sea and resuscitated, but died on August 21 in hospital after showing signs of a brain injury throughout treatment.
An inquest into the deaths of all four family members opened at Horsham on Tuesday.
The hearing heard that the RNLI was called after reports of ‘members of the public getting into trouble in the sea’.
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Mr El-Khawas, Ms Alayan and Sara were brought ashore by lifeboat crews at Kingston Beach before being pronounced dead at the RNLI lifeboat station.
Saja was taken to the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital in Brighton in a critical condition before being transferred to Evelina London Children’s Hospital at St Thomas’ Hospital.
Coroner’s officer Kelly Truss told the hearing that Saja showed signs of a brain injury throughout her time in hospital.
‘All clinical signs throughout her admission showed evidence of a hypoxic brain injury,’ she said.
Saja was pronounced dead on August 21, with a provisional cause of death given as hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy and drowning.
The cause of death for the other three family members has not yet been established.
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