THE family of a teenager, who tragically drowned in Weymouth four years ago, have called for safety improvements following another death in the harbour this month.

As previously reported, a man died after falling into Weymouth harbour this month despite desperate efforts to save his life.

The family of Louis Harris, who drowned aged 18 after disappearing on a night out to celebrate a friend’s birthday in 2016, have renewed calls for safety improvements following this latest incident.

They spoke out as it was also revealed that statistics show Dorset ranks joint sixth highest in the UK for drowning fatalities.

Meanwhile, Louis’s mother Holly said: “We were pretty devastated to hear about the latest incident. We felt that it was always another accident waiting to happen, it was just a matter of time. We have never been happy about the state of affairs at Custom House Quay since Louis lost his life.

“We have been trying to achieve safety improvements, we have been involved with all the charities and have recently attended the national Water Safety Conference.

“We wanted lessons to be learned from Louis’s death so that it didn’t happen again. Everything we do now is with the intention of saving lives.

“It’s too late for our lovely Louis and it is sadly too late for the gentleman that lost his life recently, but we can still try and change things so that these terrible things stop happening. It has been extremely upsetting for the family to hear of the tragic event at Custom House Quay last weekend. We send their deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the man who lost his life.”

The family has since written to the Chief Executive of Dorset Council, the Dorset Coroner, their MP, and the Health and Safety Executive, calling for safety improvements. They would like to see barriers or railings around the harbour and have also raised concerns about car parking along the harbour and ropes being strewn across, causing a trip hazard near the water’s edge. Mrs Harris has also called for security and door supervisors at nightclubs to have up to date vulnerability training, as she said: “That side of the harbour is the busiest side on a night out with the bars and clubs in the town. We know there have been other fatalities and serious incidents in the harbour and they are mostly young men and middle-aged men, who probably fall below the vulnerability radar a lot of the time.”

Since Louis’ death, Mrs Harris has been involved in giving water safety talks to sixth form students at Thomas Hardye, the school which Louis attended, as well as supporting campaigns such as the Royal Life Saving Society’s Drowning Prevention Week from June 12-19.

She said: “We fully support the work of the RLSS they are doing an incredibly important job of keeping everyone informed and educating people.”

Mrs Harris said that awareness is especially important this year, with lockdown restrictions continuing to impact on emergency and lifeguard services.

RLSS UK chief executive officer Robert Gofton said: “We are extremely concerned that this summer will see people rushing to jump into the water without proceeding with caution and understanding the potential life-threatening implications. Although amazing work has been done to reduce the number of accidental drownings across the UK and Ireland, this year has been unprecedented in so many ways. We have witnessed a recent increase in public euphoria and risk-taking behaviour.

“Dorset has a particularly high rate of drowning incidences and we urge as many people as possible to access our resources to learn how to stay safe.”

The charity is fearful that there could be a significant rise in drowning accidents and fatalities across the UK this summer when lockdown restrictions lift further, with a worrying number of accidents having already taken place.

As part of Drowning Prevention Week, families are being urged to access the RLSS UK’s free resources to learn how to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.

Visit www.rlss.org.uk/dpw for information.