Vigil Held for Family of Four Who Died After Getting into Difficulty off Shoreham Beach

Mourners gathered at Kingston Beach in Shoreham, West Sussex, for a vigil honouring a family of four who lost their lives after getting into difficulty in the sea during a day trip that ended in tragedy. Hassan El-Khawas, 55, his partner Zeina Alayn, 37, and their 14-year-old daughter Sara died after entering the water near Shoreham Fort. Their six-year-old daughter Saja was pulled from the sea alive and taken to hospital in a critical condition, but she died three days later on Friday, completing a loss that has left the local community and the family’s wider circle in deep mourning.

A one-minute silence was observed in Shoreham town centre as residents came together to mark the deaths. Floral tributes have been laid at the beach where the family encountered trouble. Reverend Pat Alden, addressing those who assembled, spoke of the town’s instinct to unite in both celebration and grief. “When something happens, whether it’s something we celebrate… or tragic circumstances like this, the community comes together,” he said. “Shoreham is the sort of place where the community comes together at times like this. We are a very close-knit community.”

A Day Trip from London

The family were British citizens of Palestinian origin who had come to the United Kingdom from Rashidieh Camp in southern Lebanon, according to information from the Palestinian embassy. They lived in a first-floor, two-bedroom council flat in north-west London and had travelled to Shoreham on Tuesday for what was intended as an ordinary seaside outing. Neighbours later described them as a warm and close family. They entered the water from the beach at Shoreham Fort at around 2pm and soon got into difficulty. Emergency services responded, but only Saja could be rescued alive, and her subsequent death confirmed the scale of the disaster.

Sara’s school in west London issued a tribute to the teenager, calling her “a sweet girl, well-liked by staff and students” who “will be greatly missed.” The statement extended “heartfelt condolences” to her family, friends and all those affected, and noted that the news would be deeply upsetting for many students, families and staff.

SHOREHAM, WEST SUSSEX DROWNING A man who died in the accident was Hussam al-Khawas, who was from one of the Palestinian refugee families from the Rashidieh camp in southern Lebanon.His wife, Zeina …

Police Assessment and Official Responses

Sussex Police have indicated that, on the basis of CCTV and initial witness accounts, the deaths appear to be a tragic accident. Chief Superintendent James Collis said there is currently no indication of third-party involvement, although the investigation remains open. After Saja’s death he described the update as “one we all feared in the aftermath of Tuesday’s tragic events,” adding that the impact had been felt across the country and that the Shoreham community, emergency responders and all involved would continue to be affected for a long time.

A mother and daughter lay flowers on a beach.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham called the incident a “terrible family tragedy.” Adnan Hmidan, chairman of the Palestinian Forum in Britain, said the Palestinian, Arab and wider community, together with friends and supporters, had been left “deeply shocked and saddened by the tragic incident involving the Khawwas family during a day trip off the coast of Sussex.”

Community Grief

The vigil and the town-centre silence reflected a determination to acknowledge the human cost of a day that began as a simple family excursion. Shoreham’s beaches draw visitors throughout the summer; the conditions that turned an afternoon swim into a fatal emergency are still being examined by investigators. For residents, the presence of flowers at the water’s edge and the gathering of neighbours, officials and strangers offered a public language for private sorrow.

Floral tributes on the beach at Shoreham-by-Sea near an RNLI station after three family members died.

The family’s story—migration from a refugee camp in Lebanon, settlement in London, a seaside trip, and the loss of parents and both children within days—has resonated beyond Sussex. Messages of condolence have come from local civic leaders, national politicians and representatives of the Palestinian community in Britain. Each has stressed the suddenness of the event and the particular cruelty of a tragedy that left no immediate survivors among the immediate family unit that entered the water.

A woman placing flowers on the beach in tribute to those who died at Shoreham-by-Sea.

An Investigation Continues

While police believe the evidence points to accident rather than crime, they have kept the investigation open pending further inquiries. Coastal incidents involving rip currents, unexpected depth changes or simple misjudgement of conditions are a recurring feature of British summers; each one is distinct in its human detail. In this case the detail is almost unbearable: four members of one family, two of them children, gone after a Tuesday afternoon at the beach, remembered days later by a minute’s silence and a vigil on the sand where their outing ended.

Aerial view of Shoreham Harbour showing a large emergency response on the beach and roads with ambulances and police vehicles.

Reverend Alden’s words captured the only consolation the town can immediately offer—that it will not look away. Shoreham, he suggested, is the kind of place that gathers when its people, or those who visit it, suffer. The flowers, the silence and the shared presence on Kingston Beach were the first expressions of that gathering. For the wider circles that knew Hassan, Zeina, Sara and Saja—in London, in the Palestinian community, in Sara’s school—the work of mourning has only begun. The sea that took them remains the same stretch of water that borders the town; the memory of the family who did not return will now form part of its summer story.

Floral tributes on the beach at Shoreham-by-Sea, with a card reading “Our thoughts are with all the family and friends R.I.P. Michael, Tracie, Ross, Ella and Holly”.