Palestinian-British girl, 6, dies days after family drowned off UK coast
By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters.
By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters.
Article outline
- What happened
- Background
- The key numbers
- The bottom line
Key points
- British newspaper the Daily Telegraph documented on Tuesday, citing the Palestinian embassy, that the family was originally from the Rashidieh refugee camp in southern Lebanon.
- Saja el-Khawas was taken to hospital in critical condition on Tuesday but has since died, Sussex police remarked Friday.
- The family lived in London but travelled to Shoreham to visit the beach as the United Kingdom sweltered under its latest heatwave of the year.
- UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham previously described what happened to the el-Khawas family as a "terrible family tragedy".
- The Palestinian Forum in Britain held a gathering to commemorate the family on Thursday.
Notably, a six-year-old Palestinian-British girl whose parents and sister drowned earlier this week has additionally died in hospital, according to local police.
Saja's father Hassan El-Khawas, 55, her mother Zeina Alayn, 37, and her 14-year-old sister Sara El-Khawas all died at the scene after getting into difficulty in the water at Shoreham, Sussex, on Tuesday.
For context, the family lived in London but travelled to Shoreham to visit the beach as the United Kingdom sweltered under its latest heatwave of the year.
For context, an investigation into what happened remains open, but the current theory is that it was a "tragic accident, with no third-party involvement", the police remarked.
Hassan reportedly came to the UK as a refugee, and previously lived in the Rashidieh camp, one of the most populous Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
Notably, the Palestinian Forum in Britain held a gathering to commemorate the family on Thursday.
Drownings have surged throughout Europe as residents seek relief from the heatwave on the continent, with incidents documented in France, Germany and the UK.
For now, palestinian-British girl, 6, dies days after family drowned off UK coast remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.
