Vandals have damaged life-saving equipment at a Norfolk beauty spot where people have drowned in recent years.
New throwlines had recently been installed at Bawsey Country Park, near King's Lynn, for emergency situations but one of the boards - which is located on the western side of the Great Lake - has been vandalised and "temporarily rendered useless".
Richard Wilkins, business development manager, said they had been working with emergency services to install six of these throwlines around the park.
He said: "The box containing the throwline has been wrenched from the board, broken open, and the rope removed and taken away.
"We actively promote the no swimming and paddling rule at the lakes, however we still see people ignoring this and going in the water, even in the depths of winter.
"The equipment is in place to aid in saving a life in an emergency and damaging it in this way potentially puts lives at risk."
He said emergency services had been made aware of the incident.
The business development manager added that they have been working with the services particularly the Norfolk fire service to install the items, which had been put in a couple of weeks ago around the park.
He said: "It's a large board with full instructions with a locked box in the middle- which is the throwline - and the way it works is in an emergency situation you ring 999 and each board has its own number and its specific number is known to all the emergency services.
"So when they ring and say 'I'm at Bawsey board number two' for example, they know exactly where the incident is taking place on the site so it speeds up the process."
He said the boards were put in by himself and a colleague, and that they were damaged overnight between 2pm on Tuesday, February 2 and Wednesday morning, after a message from a follower on Facebook revealed the board was undamaged when she was walking her dog at around 1.30pm on Tuesday.
Mr Wilkins added: "It's hugely frustrating, clearly as we said and continue to say people are not allowed in the water but unfortunately people do tend to ignore rules now and then.
"The boards have been up less than a month.
"Even at this time of year we have found people swimming in the large lake or the small lake, and they are asked politely to leave but it does happen.
"Water of that sort you appreciate whether it's summer or winter water and particularly deep water, if you're not used to it or not acclimatised can cause problems.
"You get into deep water, out of your depth and you start to get cold and you can run into some serious problems very quickly.
"We're fully aware of that and are very active in promoting the fact that there's signage all around the park, our website very clearly has details on there that people aren't allowed in the water and we reiterate the message through social media."
It comes after a water safety warning following the death of a man last August. Kristers Bednarskis, 22, from Peterborough, was pulled from the water but could not be saved.
At the time, Audrey Smith, of Cromer RNLI, emphasised the need for people to heed safety advice.
“It is so important to take care in water, especially in this very hot weather,” she said. “People go in to cool off, but quickly you can find yourself out of your depth.
“Because the water is so cold it’s easy to cramp up, and then you panic and your body doesn’t know what to do.”
Lakes at the country park are flooded former quarries, where depths can plunge to 60ft.
A 41-year-old man from King’s Lynn and a 16-year-old boy from London drowned on the same day in July 2013.
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