Calls for quarry pond to be filled in after latest tragedy

● Three deaths at Preston Hill site since 2014

Calls have been made to drain a quarry pond in Fife after a school teacher died while scuba diving.

Kelda Henderson’s body was recovered by police frogmen on Monday morning after she failed to surface during an organised dive with friends at the disused Preston Hill quarry in Inverkeithing on Sunday.

The 36-year-old mother-ofone was a teacher at George Heriot’s in Edinburgh.

The tragedy comes two years after 18-year-old John Mckay drowned at the quarry in 2015, while Cameron Lancaster, also 18, was killed after jumping into the quarry the previous year.

Now an online petition is calling for the water to be drained from the privatelyowned site to prevent more fatalities.

“How many lives must be lost before someone takes action?” said Alison Drummond Carnegie, who set up the petition yesterday.

“Our thoughts are with all involved, past and present. It’s the worst feeling seeing a helicopter searching in the night sky in the quarry. Please empty the place and fill it in.”

Preston Hill is popular with scubadivingclubsfromacross Scotland.

But some locals have called for the site to be sealed off to put an end to the tradition of people jumping from the cliff edge into the 30ft deep water below.

In 2015, Fife Council re-erected fencing around the pond and signage advising people not to enter the water, which is littered with debris including cars and rolls of discarded wiring.

Councillor Alice Mcgarry, whose ward includes Preston Hill, told The Scotsman that the quarry had recently been acquired by a consortium which intends to lodge a planning application to build houses on part of the land.

There are also plans to establish a diving centre at the quarry pond.

“Local people would probably welcome the retention of the quarry as a safe diving space as part of a wider development,” she said.

“The quarry, at the moment, lures people in as they think it’s a safe space. But within 20 yards there is the Firth of Forth and all its cliffs, which people can use irresponsibly.

“Divers are using the pond in a responsible manner.

“It’s a very complex site. Who would fill in the quarry? It’s not council-owned. The cliff face is equally dangerous. It could take years to infill.

“It’s not a feasible proposition.”