Boy, 15, drowned in 'Blue Lagoon' quarry near Dudley
A 15-year-old boy on holiday from Portugal has died after plummeting into the swollen waters of a lake at a disused West Midland quarry.
Police divers found the teenager's body in waters at the former quarry behind the Crooked House pub in Himley following a seven-hour search.
The victim was today named as Augusto Zacarias. It is believed he had only been in the UK for days having come over on holiday from Portugal and he has relatives in the area.
The teenager is said to have either jumped or slipped into the water from a cliff but then failed to resurface.
Two of his friends were already in the water – known locally as the Blue Lagoon – and made a desperate bid to save him but were forced to make their way back to the quarry bank.
Police are now appealing to dozens of young people who were in the area at the time of the tragedy, at about 1pm yesterday, to come forward if they witnessed what happened.
Click the image on the top right to see photos from the police search
Police were at the scene, off Himley Road, within two minutes of receiving a call from West Midlands Ambulance Service at 1.17pm. Officers did not go into the water. Chief Superintendent Stuart Johnson, head of Dudley Police, said: "It was not an appropriate situation to enter the water. It's incredibly murky and there was no obvious trace of him."
Crews from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service searched in vain throughout the afternoon, using a dinghy and poles to probe the depths of the lake, believed to have been swollen to about 20ft at the spot where the youngster went in. During the early evening the Midlands' police underwater search team arrived from Nottingham to continue the hunt for the boy.
And, at 8.26pm the teenager's body was recovered by the the underwater team.
Mr Johnson said the youngster had been among a group of five boys, including a cousin, at the quarry which is a popular meeting point for youngsters to sunbathe and swim.
"It was a really hot afternoon and some young people were swimming in the quarry or sunbathing on the bank," he added.
"All the others were accounted for but this young boy was missing. He went into the water and didn't come out."
Mr Johnson said witnesses had described the missing youngster as going into the water from a "raised area" up to 10ft high, opposite to the steepest part of the quarry.
"We don't know if he deliberately jumped or if he fell into the water," he said.
"Two of his friends were already in the water with him and made efforts to save him but when they couldn't they made their way to the bank."
Police family liaison officers stayed with the family at their home while the search continued.
In 1983 a 13-year-old boy drowned in the same area.
The community has been left shocked by what has happened. Tributes flooded in to a special memorial Facebook page for Augusto.
One said: "Such a shame that somebody has lost their life so tragically."
Black Country coroner Robin Balmain has been informed and an inquest will open soon.
It is the third tragedy involved in water in recent days, following the start of the school summer holidays and soaring temperatures.
Aaron Burgess, aged 14, died while cooling off in a stretch of the River Avon between Bristol and Bath on Tuesday, while a 15-year-old boy, named as Daniel James McCullagh, died in the River Nene near his home in Woodford, near Kettering in Northamptonshire.
He was reported missing just before 3pm on Tuesday and his body was found at 6.20pm, Northamptonshire Police said.
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