PEOPLE are still risking their lives by swimming at the quarry in which a teenager died a year ago.

Wardens working for the Malvern Hills Conservators have had to advise people of the dangers of Gullet Quarry, near Castlemorton, on a number of occasions since Gloucester student Yunus Ismail Moolla drowned on a college excursion last July.

"Our wardens have approached people to say it's dangerous," said Conservators' director Ian Rowat. "It looks very attractive and people tell our wardens they've been doing it for years."

Mr Rowat said that since Mr Moolla's death, replacement red and white warning signs had been put up around the area where he died and six spare signs were on standby should any be damaged.

"I don't think we can do anything else practically," he said.

Mr Rowat said the water level in the quarry was a meter lower than last year, which meant that diving off rocks was more dangerous than ever.

As well as the cold temperature of the water, there is considerable debris under the surface.

Mr Moolla, aged 17, was on a day out with the Central Technology College, Gloucester, on July 3, 2001, when he died, despite a massive operation by the emergency services.

In 1995, another Gloucester man, Clifford James, drowned while celebrating his 25th birthday.

Mr Rowat said he had hoped Mr Moolla's death would serve as a warning.

"This person was in the water for a couple of hours and this happened with all his colleagues around him," he said.

"I would urge everyone to swim somewhere safer."

Roger Vincent, a spokesman for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), said: "Each summer we dread the first hot weekend because we get a spate of drownings throughout the country.

"The only safe place to swim is a properly supervised swimming pool or beach."