JUST a week after a youth drowned in the Blue Lagoon, teenagers were back leaping into the deadly waters. Leroy Holcroft reports . . .

YOUNGSTERS continued to dice with death at a Bolton reservoir on Sunday -- just seven days after a teenager drowned at the beauty spot.

As temperatures soared, groups of youths and children risked their lives by jumping into the Blue Lagoon, at Belmont.

Last weekend, 17-year-old Nicholas Wetton, from Coppull, near Chorley, drowned after getting into difficulties while swimming with friends at the reservoir.

But youngsters ignored repeated safety warnings from police as they swam in the freezing water yesterday.

Dozens of people gathered at the beauty spot to enjoy the weather, sunbathing and walking dogs.

But some decided to take to the water to cool down.

Just five minutes after arriving at the spot, a group of three young men had stripped to their shorts, and had jumped into the water from the banks of the reservoir.

They then climbed over barriers sealing off a maintenance bridge stretching over the water, and hopped along the structure's metal slats before climbing up on to railings at the end.

Two of the group then balanced on the railings before performing daring somersaults and dives into the lagoon. At one point, one of the youths swam away from the bridge, chasing a football which was being blown out to the middle of the reservoir.

He finally caught up with the ball around 40 feet out into the reservoir -- a similar distance from the bank to that at which Nicholas Wetton got into difficulties.

Shortly afterwards, a large group of adults and children arrived, carrying towels and balls, and headed for the far side of the reservoir.

The youngsters, who appeared to be aged between seven and 10, clambered into the water from a series of steps, which act as a water run-off from the surrounding hills.

The adults looked on as the children played in the water.

Onlooker Michael Collins, aged 25, who had travelled to the beauty spot from nearby Belmont with his girlfriend, said: "There are always people in the lagoon as soon as the weather picks up.

"Most of them are young, and don't realise how deep and dangerous it is. The reason half of them come up here is because it's not fenced off and they can jump into the water.

"There should be more done to stop it, especially after what happened last week. It will only result in more people drowning."

Bosses at Belmont Bleaching Works, which owns the reservoir, say they cannot fence off the reservoir because there is a public right of way around it.

Last week managing director Julian Smith told the Bolton Evening News that the simple answer to the problem was for visitors to take notice of signs indicating that it is a no-swimming area.

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TAKING THE PLUNGE: A teenager takes a flying leap into the Blue Lagoon's icy waters, apparently oblivious to the dangers