Young Sudanese migrant was found dead in Channel Tunnel on way to join brother in Birmingham
Accidental death verdict at inquest into death of Husham Alzubair
Ben Hurst
Husham Alzubair, who faced a pauper's funeral until Birmingham's Sudanese community stepped in.
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A young Sudanese migrant found dead in the Channel Tunnel was trying to join family members in Britain to start a new life, an inquest has heard.
Husham Osman Alzubair, 22, aimed to enroll on a civil engineering Masters degree course in Birmingham after leaving his home village near Khartoum earlier this year.
But he was found dead from devastating head injuries on the rear wagon of a freight train as it arrived through the Channel Tunnel at Folkestone, Kent.
The refugee had wanted to be reunited with his brother Husam, a student in Birmingham.
An inquest, held at Folkestone Magistrates' Court, heard a large number of clandestines had earlier tried to breach the Chunnel's security, with 46 being detained by police.
Darfur-born Mr Alzubair, an engineering graduate, was first spotted on CCTV cameras in France lying on the rear wagon of a freight train just after 3am on July 23.
As the train arrived on the English side of the Channel Tunnel, a security team saw his body lying in the same position, the inquest was told.
A bid to revive him proved futile and he was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics who were already at the scene dealing with another incident.
A picture of a Barclaycard led investigators to Mr Alzubair's brother, Husam, who was living in Birmingham, and DNA from him was used to confirm his identity.
Listening in court to the evidence was Husam, a friend and two cousins of Mr Alzubair who had left his parents in Sudan to pursue a new life in Britain.
A post-mortem examination confirmed his cause of death was through traumatic haemorrhage skull fracture. Toxicology tests for drugs and alcohol were negative.
Asked whether the situation relating to incursions had now changed in France, Detective Sergeant Matthew Jones, of Kent Police said: "It is nowhere near the levels that it was during the summer.
"In my opinion that is probably down to the changing weather conditions and the recent response by the French police."
Coroner Rachel Redman questioned how he came to sustain his fatal injuries, but DS Jones said it remained a mystery.
He said: "We have no information to help answer that question.
"Our best guess would be that during the period that clandestines were running along the train and jumping on, we suspect when he jumped on he received that injury, but we have no CCTV or witnesses to confirm that."
The inquest heard that Detective Chief Inspector Simon Morris had asked the coroner to write a report requiring Chunnel operator Eurotunnel to review its security procedures.
But Ms Redman refused the request, saying this was the only death that had been reported to her, and the problems appeared to have "abated".
She recorded a verdict of accidental death. Afterwards, Mr Alzubair's cousin, Alnoor Shuaib, 32, said the family still had unanswered questions about how he died.
He said: "Maybe someone pushed him, we don't know. We have not got any evidence, and that is a real surprise to me."
Husam, who lives in Lozells and has been studying legally in Britain for a year, previously paid tribute to his brother in an interview with the Birmingham Mail.
He said: "My brother was quiet, he was kind, he was a respectable person. He was very clever and from primary school through to university he always got excellent grades.
"It was his dream to come to England to do a master's degree in engineering and to improve our family's situation."
Lozells
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