A six-year-old girl who was pulled alive from the sea off Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, after her family drowned has died in hospital from a brain injury caused by drowning, an inquest has heard. Her father, mother and older sister were confirmed dead at the scene on 18 August following a major search-and-rescue operation, while the youngest child, Saja, was resuscitated on the beach but died three days later despite treatment. The preliminary hearing, held before senior coroner Penelope Schofield, offered condolences to the family and confirmed a fuller inquest will take place at a later date.

The family, from Craven Park in north-west London, had travelled to Shoreham for a day trip and entered the water at Kingston Beach near Shoreham Fort. Hussam El-Khawas, 55, his wife Zeina Alayan, 37, and their daughter Sara, 14, were brought ashore by the RNLI and pronounced dead, with post-mortem examinations leaving their causes of death unascertained, while Saja's death was formally attributed to hypoxic brain injury from drowning. The British-Palestinian family, whose parents were born in the Rashidieh refugee camp in Lebanon, were later returned to Lebanon for burial after more than £23,000 was raised by the Palestinian Forum in Britain, and police believe the deaths were a tragic accident.