Former Syrian refugee died in North Wales beach trip tragedy
A former Syrian refugee who moved to North Wales died on a day out to the beach after getting into difficulty in the sea. Mohamad Alkadour, 20, of Trevor Street, Wrexham, went for a swim off Barmouth last May, on a trip to the Gwynedd resort.
But the engineering student, who was training to become a mechanic, was not a proficient swimmer and drowned, an inquest in Caernarfon heard today. North West Wales senior coroner Kate Robertson at Caernarfon recorded a conclusion of an accident.
Mr Alkadour had been with friends and his brother on May 27. Ms Robertson said: "It must have been an incredibly tragic and traumatic set of circumstances they found themselves in when having a day out together which up until that point appeared to have gone to plan." You can sign up for all the latest court stories here
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A major search was launched involving lifeboats and coastguards when the alarm was raised. Abdullah Alrawas, a good friend of Mr Alkadour, said a group of 11 had visited Eryri (Snowdonia) and five of the party drove on to Barmouth.
Mr Alkadour and Taha Elfituri, another friend, had been in the water at one stage. But then Mr Elfituri ran towards him shouting: "I’ve lost him. I had his hand and then a wave took him.”
The witness said in a statement :”We thought he was fooling around at first.” Mr Elfituri said Mr Alkadour had been chest-deep in the sea. But suddenly a few fast waves pulled them further out, the force of the tide taking him by surprise.
Mr Elfituri had been panicking and struggling to keep afloat. When he managed to get ashore he couldn’t see his friend and he asked a woman to dial 999.
The inquest heard Mr Alkadour was eventually washed ashore and coastguards started CPR. He was flown to hospital at Bangor by a coastguard helicopter but had been in the water for about two hours.
Khawla al Naser, his mother who knew him as Hamoudi, said in a statement that the family left Syria because of civil war in 2013. They were refugees in Lebanon until 2019. They then settled at Wrexham and her son attended a local school.
"Hamoudi wasn’t a proficient swimmer," she’d explained. She described how her son had been excited about going away with his brother and friends on May 27.
Mrs al Naser said: "We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our beloved son. We are very proud of him. We will miss him greatly.”
The coroner said: "What occurred on this day was completely unexpected and unintended."
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