Hossam al-Khawas, a Palestinian refugee from the Rashidieh camp in Lebanon, died alongside a woman and a teenage girl after getting into difficulty in the water off Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, on Tuesday afternoon. The Palestinian embassy in London confirmed his identity but stated it was unable to confirm the names of the other family members.
Incident Details
Al-Khawas is believed to have entered the water to swim with three other family members near Shoreham Fort in Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, on Tuesday afternoon. Police, paramedics, coastguard crews, and a lifeboat attended the scene, where four people were pulled from the water. A younger girl from the same family was taken to hospital in a critical condition.
Two air ambulance helicopters and a critical care team were sent to the scene, and Shoreham RNLI reported that its lifeboat was called out at 3pm. Sussex police said they believed all four had entered the water to swim. Ch Supt James Collis confirmed that a man, woman, and a teenage girl had died at the scene.
Official Response
Andy Burnham described the incident as “a terrible family tragedy” and a reminder of the dangers of open water swimming. Speaking on a visit to north-east England, Burnham said: “Always. It’s so sad to hear what happened yesterday, and obviously we think there’s a young girl still in the hospital fighting for her life, and we send our best wishes and love to wider friends and family. But a real tragedy, a real terrible family tragedy.”
Burnham added: “Obviously, we will look in detail at what happened. The thing I can say today, and there is still, I think, a further heatwave to come in this summer period, it is just to remind people about the dangers of open-water swimming. The coldness, even when it feels hot outside, it can shock people, and that can cause the difficulties. So people just need to remember that at all times.”
Burnham also praised the emergency services: “I do need to praise the emergency services, who I know were on scene very quickly yesterday. They’ve had a busy summer, but they were there, and we thank them. As I say, just huge sympathy to the friends and the family.”
Community Impact and Wider Context
Joss Loader, the chair of Shoreham Beach Residents’ Association, said: “There’s just a really strong sense of shock, obviously people are really concerned for the young girl. A small, tightly knit community with a very deep sense of shock and that sense of disbelief you get after a tragedy because it has come out of nowhere.” Loader noted that Shoreham beach is a spit of land with water on three sides from the River Adur, the estuary, and the sea, and she understood the “tragic events” had happened in the estuary.
“It’s school holidays and we have had a wonderful summer so the beaches have been packed with families,” she said. “People swim from those beaches even in the winter, generally it is considered as safe as the sea can be. You wouldn’t be swimming there and think you were taking a risk.”
Anna Peacock, 81, who lives near Kingston beach across the water from Shoreham Fort, said emergency services were on the scene very quickly. “People come down to swim, particularly in the summertime and I don’t think they realise there’s a riptide along here,” she said. “It’s very inviting to come to the sea, but the tide could carry you out in seconds, and I don’t think people have realised that.”
There have been a series of water-related deaths across the country in a summer of record-breaking heat. On Saturday, a 12-year-old boy drowned in the River Lea, near Hackney Marshes in north-east London. In April, a woman and her young child died after getting into difficulty in the water in west London, both dying at the scene in Elthorne Park, Ealing, according to the Metropolitan police. A study by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine reported at least 35 drowning deaths, including eight in July.
