A FORMER Syrian refugee who moved to Wrexham with his family drowned in the sea, an inquest heard.

Mohamad Alkadour, 20, of Trevor Street, Wrexham, had studied engineering at a local college to become a mechanic.

The 20-year-old, who worked at a pizza parlour, vanished while in Barmouth, Gwynedd.

A friend described how he had also struggled to stay alive in the water that evening on May 27 last year.

North West Wales senior coroner Kate Robertson, at an inquest held in Caernarfon, recorded a conclusion of an accident.

Mr Alkadour had been with friends and a brother.

The coroner 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.”

A major search had been launched involving lifeboats and coastguards when the alarm was raised.

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 before they then settled in Wrexham, where 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.

She added: ”We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our beloved son. We are very proud of him. We will miss him greatly.”

Abdullah Alrawas, a good friend of Mr Alkadour, said a group of 11 had visited 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.”

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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.

The coroner said: ”What occurred on this day was completely unexpected and unintended.”