Parents pay their tribute to Lower Gornal quarry tragedy teen (From Dudley News)

Parents pay their tribute to Lower Gornal quarry tragedy teen

4:05pm Thursday 26th July 2012 in Local

THE parents of a teenager who died at a quarry in Lower Gornal have spoken of their heartbreak.

The body of Augusto Massampo Zacarias, aged 15, was recovered yesterday (Wednesday) from a pool known locally as the Blue Lagoon.

Augusto,who celebrated his birthday last week, lived in Portugal and was on holiday visiting relatives in the UK. He had been in Britain for less than three weeks.

Augusto's father and mother, Pedro and Paulina Zacarias, said: "Augusto was our first child, who we loved with all our hearts. He was a loving son and older brother to Samuel.

"Augusto loved to play football and hoped to play professionally one day. He was a very sensible young man and had begun to make plans for the future should he not have been successful as a footballer. He planned to continue his studies and eventually work in engineering.

"Augusto had lots of positive aims and had a bright future. He was a lovely child and our pride and joy.

"Our son's passing is a great loss to us as a family; he will be deeply missed and forever in our thoughts."

Police were called to the scene at 1.17pm and a full scale search operation recovered his body from the water at 8.25pm.

The Black Country coroner has been informed and police are continuing to urge young people not to swim or play near open or unsupervised water.