LIFEBELTS are being called for at Gullet Quarry on the Malvern Hills following the drowning of a student.

Worcestershire Coroner Victor Round said he would write to the Conservators with the request at an inquest yesterday (Thursday) into the death of Yunus Moolla.

Mr Moolla, 17, a business student from Victoria Street, Gloucester, died on July 3, 2001, while on a day trip with the city's Central Technology College.

The sole teacher in charge of 17 students, Andrew Barker, declined to give evidence at the inquest.

His solicitor, Benedict Recordon, said Mr Barker did not want to be difficult in determining the events that led to the student's death. But he was entitled to decline to answer questions in case his words proved incriminating in the event of a criminal investigation.

However, several pupils at the hearing said Mr Barker had warned them not to swim in the quarry lake.

Mr Moolla drowned not long after another student had to be rescued from the water after jumping off a ledge. The party was preparing to leave when he returned to the water, saying he was going to clean his trainers. He then began a race across the pool with fellow student Adam Harrison.

Noticing Mr Moolla getting into difficulties, both Mr Harrison and a member of the public, Robert Cain, went to his aid. Before the trio reached the shore, Mr Moolla slipped under the surface; his two helpers too exhausted to hold on any longer.

A police rescue team recovered the body later the same day.

In summing up, Mr Round said: "I'm going to write to the Conservators suggesting they consider putting in brightly-coloured life-saving equipment and to do something more visible about notices.

"Something has got to be done to try and stop this happening but we will probably all be distressed to see it happen again in Worcestershire this summer."

Prior to the inquest, Conservators' director Ian Rowat had said they were erecting a mesh fence along the cliff top to stop people jumping into the water.

A new car park is also being created away from the water, to encourage people to use Gullet Quarry as a beauty spot rather than a place to swim. In 2001, a ledge was dynamited in an attempt to stop people diving in.

A inquest jury of nine returned a verdict of accidental death.