Notting Hill Carnival death: Karnell Kelly, 25, named by police
A 25-year-old man who died after entering the Grand Union Canal near this year’s Notting Hill Carnival has been named as Karnell Kelly. Metropolitan Police officers confirmed his identity on Tuesday following a formal identification process, days after the tragedy unfolded on Kensal Road in west London.
What happened near the canal
Kelly entered the water off Kensal Road during the bank holiday weekend, when hundreds of thousands of revellers had gathered in the area for one of Europe’s largest street festivals. Emergency services were called to the scene, and he was pulled from the Grand Union Canal before being rushed to hospital. But despite efforts by medical staff, he didn’t survive. He was pronounced dead in hospital shortly after.
The exact circumstances that led to Kelly entering the water remain under investigation.
Police launch investigation
The Metropolitan Police said the death is being treated as unexplained but that it isn’t currently believed to be suspicious. A file will be prepared for the coroner. Officers from the local policing team are leading the inquiry and have been working to piece together Kelly’s movements in the hours before he entered the canal.
A Met Police spokesperson said: “We are working to support Karnell’s family at this incredibly difficult time and ask that their privacy is respected while they grieve.”
Still, questions are being asked about safety along the stretch of canal that runs close to the carnival’s route. The waterway passes through a busy section of west London, and the area around Kensal Road sees significant foot traffic during the August bank holiday weekend.
Carnival backdrop to the tragedy
This year’s Notting Hill Carnival drew an estimated two million visitors across the Sunday and Monday of the bank holiday. It’s one of the biggest events in London’s cultural calendar, a celebration rooted in the city’s Caribbean community that has been running since 1966. But the festival has also historically placed significant pressure on emergency services, with police, paramedics and fire crews all deployed in large numbers across the two days.
Kensal Road sits on the northern fringe of the carnival area, close enough to the celebrations that it sees heavy crowding when the event is in full swing.
Family and community reaction
No formal statement from Kelly’s family has been released publicly at this stage. And so far, no crowdfunding pages or public tributes have been officially confirmed in his name, though that could change in the coming days as the news spreads more widely.
His death is the latest in a series of tragedies involving the Grand Union Canal in London, a stretch of water that cuts through some of the capital’s most densely populated neighbourhoods.
An inquest into Kelly’s death is expected to be opened in the coming weeks. Investigators will continue gathering witness accounts and reviewing any available footage from the area as they work to establish exactly what happened on that bank holiday weekend.
