Inquest opens into death of Afghan boy who fell from Sheffield hotel window

An inquest has opened into the death of a five-year-old Afghan refugee who fell from the window of a Sheffield hotel.

The coroner, Tanyka Rawden, offered her condolences to the family of Mohammed Munib Majeedi, at what she said was a "truly awful time".

The inquest heard only brief details of how Mohammed fell from a window of the Sheffield Metropolitan Hotel and landed on the top deck of a multi-storey car park.

Assistant coroner Tanyka Rawden said in the five-minute hearing: "He was staying with his family at the Metropolitan Hotel, on Blonk Street, in Sheffield.

"On August 18 2021, emergency services were called to a car park adjacent to the hotel following reports of Mohammed having fallen from a window of the hotel onto the top storey of the car park.

"He was taken by ambulance to Sheffield Children's Hospital where he was sadly pronounced dead."

Ms Rawden told Sheffield Coroner's Court that Mohammed was identified by his father and told the hearing that the boy was born in Afghanistan in May 2016.

She adjourned the inquest until a further hearing on November 16 and no further details of the incident were given.

Mohammed had arrived in the UK with his family this summer and witnesses said that the boy's father had worked at the British Embassy in Kabul.

It emerged last week that asylum seekers were previously removed from the hotel because it was deemed unfit for refugees to stay in.

Labour MPs in the city have demanded a "full, urgent, independent inquiry" and The Refugee Council has also called for a review of the accommodation offered to those fleeing the Taliban.

Earlier this week, Emma Haddad, director-general of asylum and protection at the Home Office, said the boy's family had "recently" been moved from Afghanistan by her team.

"We are all heartbroken. We have all been in tears," Dr Haddad said.

Dr Haddad said her team has been working "round the clock" to provide safe refuge to people fleeing Afghanistan, and although her staff do not want to use hotels for relocation, offers of housing have not kept pace with the numbers arriving.