DESPERATE pleas have gone out to Wells teenagers and adrenaline junkies not to be tempted to cool off in quarries.
The rural beat manager for the city and Shepton, PC Lindsey Rogerson, spoke out in a bid to halt potentially lethal games at disused but flooded quarry works in the area.
Dozens of youngsters are thought to have broken into one of the quarries – which is not being named for fear of encouraging others to join in.
"Last week 50 cars were seen at one spot alone, where teens had broken into private land," she said.
"They were trespassing, a civil matter.
"However we want to highlight not just the legal aspect to what they are doing but, even more importantly in this case, the danger."
It is thought the groups are tombstoning or cliff-jumping, a high risk activity where people jump many dozens of feet into water below.
Their advice is not theoretical – deaths have happened at exactly the same spot where youngsters have been spotted in the last few days.
A 16-year-old and a 19-year-old died within the last decade diving into flooded Mendip quarries.
And since the heatwave hit last month, the death toll has continued to rise across the country:
Earlier this month a 17-year-old drowned at a quarry on the Hereford/Worcester border. A few days later a man in his 20s died at the same location.
Last week the bodies of a teenager and a man in his forties were recovered after they died at a restored quarry in Norfolk.
"The dangers of such activity at these quarries is very real," said PC Rogerson.
"People are breaking in, ignoring the warning signs and putting their lives at risk.
"Make no mistake about it, if this continues then there is a huge risk that someone will end up paying the price for this dangerous activity with their life."
Footage on websites show just how close youngsters have got to dangerous rocks as they fling themselves between 30 and 50ft into the waters below.
One video proudly starts by showing the warning danger sign that the jumpers are deliberately ignoring, however one comment posted beneath the upload puts the warnings in very stark terms: "This place is a grave, leave it be."