A "kind, thoughtful" 15-year-old who was "always laughing and smiling" died in a tragic go-karting accident when her headscarf became tangled and strangled her, an inquest has heard. Ruwaida Adan's hijab became entangled in her go-kart just minutes into a race with fellow teenagers who were attending a summer school.
The teenager, whose heartbroken family said was "sweet and compassionate", was rushed to hospital after the horrifying incident at Capital Karts in Barking, London, in August last year, but died four days later, MyLondon reported. Ruwaida had only recently started wearing a hijab before her death and did not wear it all the time, an inquest at Walthamstow Coroner's Court heard.
The indoor go karting arena in Barking, which has since closed for unrelated reasons, had a policy that all loose clothing needed to be removed before getting into the cars and Ruwaida should have been told to take it off, but this reportedly did not happen. Instead, Ruwaida put a balaclava on over the top of her hijab and the end of the scarf was said to be hanging out of the helmet and the suit.
