Council apologises for crass art to sea death victim families

A council has issued an apology to the families of two sea death victims due to their recently unveiled artwork.

Sunnah Khan, 12, and Joe Abbess, 17, were part of a group that were brushed out to sea from the pier and unfortunately lost their lives, on 31st May 2023. 

On 27th September 2023, Bournemouth beach's new artwork, named Portal, a 49ft rectangular sculpture was unvieled. Since, the art exhibit was put on display, the families of both sea death victims complained that the installation frames the area Sunnah Khan and Joe Abbess passed.

Graham Farrant, chief executive of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP), said: "We are deeply sorry for such a crass mistake which clearly should never have happened.

We have extended an unreserved apology to the families for causing further upset at what is undoubtedly already a distressing time.

Work is under way to close down the installation and we will review our internal processes to understand how this happened and what changes need to be made to avoid this from happening again."