Calls have been made for safety signs on Donnington Bridge in Oxford which some believe might have prevented a 14-year-old boy's tragic death in an incident last week.
Baltazar L'Quy died after he 'got into difficulty' in the River Thames on the evening of Wednesday, May 27.
He became the 11th person to die in water-related incidents in the UK during the week of the May heatwave over the late bank holiday.
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Speaking through the Oxford Timorese Community Association, his mother urged parents to remind their children about the dangers of swimming in open water.
The representative said: "The mum was actually saying that this is happening to them, and it's shocking and it's very sudden.
"But she would like to remind all the other parents, to remind the children when they're out there - don't just go into any water and to always make sure that they go with an adult."
Now, another mother who grew up in Oxford, Lucia Herron, is asking for teenagers to be 'shocked into reality' at the site itself, through 'high-impact' signs placed at Donnington Bridge which warn them of the dangers of the water.
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Ms Herron, 28, said she grew up alongside Mohammed Hussain, and was aged 14 when the 15-year-old boy jumped into the river from the same bridge during a heatwave on May 25, 2012, and died.
Mohammed's death occurred it shockingly similar circumstances to the most recent fatal incident, when teenagers went bridge jumping on a warm evening into the same stretch of water 14 years later - almost to the day - with equally tragic consequences.
Three years after Mohammed died, another 14-year-old lost his life in a nearby stretch of water.
Aown Dogar drowned in a stream near Weirs Lane in South Oxford on June 25, 2015, after he had been playing piggy in the middle with friends on a hot day, but got swept downstream after coming into difficulty in the water.
Ms Herron, now a mother of two herself, said that attending Mohammed's funeral in 2012 and hearing of Aown's death just three years later instilled the 'raw, terrifying reality' of open water on her.
She's calling on Oxford City Council to install signs beyond the standard 'no swimming' or 'danger' signs which she says 'do not work on teenagers' and instead put in signs that emphasise how dangerous the river can be.
The former local said: "We need high-impact, graphic signage at Donnington Bridge immediately.
"I am demanding that the council replaces generic warnings with ones that will deter people from entering the water.
"The signs must visually map the hidden underwater ledge, explaining that the water drops instantly from waist-deep to a freezing, 10-foot-deep central channel with invisible undertows.
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"They should state clearly that children have died in these exact waters.
"Teenagers need to be shocked into reality, not managed with bureaucracy.
"If the signs at Donnington Bridge had been brutally honest about the danger after Mohammed Hussain died, Baltazar might still be alive today."
A spokesperson for Oxford City Council said: “We are greatly saddened by the death of Baltazar L'Quy, and by other similar tragedies nationally over recent weeks.
“The Council is continuously reviewing ways to improve water safety in Oxford, taking into account advice from industry experts.
"In recent years this has included improvement works, as well as signage and public rescue equipment.
"The Council has to work with the landowners of riverbanks, and any changes to the area need to be made in consultation with them, reflecting their responsibilities to ensure public safety.
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"The Council does not encourage wild swimming in Oxford’s rivers, and those who choose to swim do so at their own risk.
"We are also looking at what more can be done to educate people on the dangers of wild swimming, including reaching out to schools and colleges to ensure this increasing national safety concern is addressed.
"The city council encourages all primary schools in Oxford to use its pools to provide swimming lessons. We want all children in Oxford to be able to swim by the time they reach secondary school."
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