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Fourth arrest over student death Dead student 'hit head in fall'
(10 minutes later)
A fourth man has been arrested following the death of a 16-year-old student from Qatar who was attacked in a seaside town in East Sussex. A student who was the victim of a suspected racially-motivated attack in Hastings died from falling and hitting his head on the ground, police said.
Mohammed Al-Majed suffered a head injury in the attack in Hastings on Friday. Police said they were treating it as a racially-motivated murder. Four people have been arrested after the attack on Mohammed Al-Majed, 16, from Qatar, in Hastings on Friday.
Three men, aged 17, 18 and 20, have been arrested and bailed. Sussex Police said they were seeking to find out how the teenager came to fall.
Officers said an 18-year-old local man was arrested on Monday night and was being questioned by police on Tuesday. Det Ch Insp Graham Pratt said: "The questions we need to answer are 'was he assaulted, was he punched or pushed, did he fall'."
The victim, who had spent five weeks in Hastings, died at Kings College Hospital in London on Sunday. He said police would continue to investigate whether it was a racially-motivated incident.
He was due to return home next weekend. "Clearly much of the investigation will seek to establish to what extent race played a part in what happened to young Mohammad," he added.
Increased patrols Det Ch Insp Pratt said the incident outside the USA Fried Chicken and Kebab House, at the junction of Robertson Street and the seafront, began as a verbal assault.
The attack happened during an altercation shortly before midnight between the teenager and his friends and a group of local youths. Four arrests
Police said the incident was outside the USA Fried Chicken and Kebab House, at the junction of Robertson Street and the seafront. He said the attack escalated into a physical one, and the teenager was trying to avoid an altercation.
Mohammed was a student at EF International Language Schools in White Rock, Hastings. His family are understood to have flown to England. He said: "Mohammad, I believe, was trying to make his way away from the incident and during the course of the incident he has fallen and struck his head on the pavement, sustaining serious head injuries."
Det Ch Insp Graham Pratt, who is leading the investigation, has appealed for any witnesses to the incident to contact the police. Officers have said the incident, shortly before midnight, involved the teenager, his friends, and a group of local youths.
He added that police patrols had been increased in the area and they were working with language schools to reassure students. The student died in Kings College Hospital, London, late on Saturday.
More than 30,000 foreign language students visit Hastings and the neighbouring Rother area each summer. His body is expected to be flown home with his family on Tuesday.
Three men, aged 17, 18 and 20, were arrested and bailed pending further inquiries. A fourth, 18, was being questioned in custody on Tuesday.
Det Ch Insp Pratt said all four men were local.
The teenager had spent five weeks in Hastings and was due to return home next weekend. His family flew to England after the attack.
He was a student at EF International Language Schools in White Rock.