Diver missing at 'death quarry'

Dorothea quarry has been the scene of many fatalities

A police underwater team has been called to help search for a missing diver at a north Wales quarry which has claimed 20 lives in the past decade.

The operation was launched at 1130 GMT on Sunday after a diver - believed to have been visiting from Oldham in Lancashire - failed to resurface at the notorious Dorothea Quarry in the Nantlle Valley, Gwynedd.

The quarry is popular with diving enthusiasts

Two coastguards from Holyhead who were on routine patrol in the area have been helping out with the search.

The area has been dubbed "death quarry" by locals, who have seen 20 deaths over the past 10 years.

The 300ft deep quarry is considered to be one of the best freshwater diving sites in the UK.

Earlier this year, its owner urged enthusiasts to stay away after the death of Paul Amison, 32, from Staffordshire.

Asked to leave

Glyn Small said he had made repeated efforts to prevent thrill-seekers using the area, but all his attempts to block access had been ignored.

Just days after the death in February, he had to ask a group of divers from Cambridgeshire who were at the quarry to leave.

He said the roads into the quarry had been closed off with 30 tonne boulders and huge trenches, but groups had still managed to get into the site.

"I hope the people who are doing this have a conscience because these deaths need not have happened," he said.

Safety measures

Mr Small has talked of plans to create a proper scuba-diving centre at the quarry, but any such development would be manned by qualified staff and will have safety resources including a rescue boat, a helipad and a portable hyperbolic chamber.

At the time of the last tragedy, Hywel Williams, the Plaid Cymru MP for Caernarfon, renewed his plea for divers to stay away from the quarry until safety measures were in place.

"I recognise people's rights to take risks as long as those risks are well thought through and there are adequate safety measures," said Mr Williams.

"I think the danger here is people may be venturing beyond their capacities without quite realising what they are doing."