SAFETY campaigners have vowed to continue their fight after a single white line was painted along Dawlish sea wall where two people have died in the last three years.

Network Rail has recently painted the line as a warning to pedestrians of the unprotected edge of the wall on the exposed stretch between Dawlish and Dawlish Warren.

A previous line painted in the 1990s lasted only two years before it was eroded.

The line has appeared a year after a coroner issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report following the death of Ukrainian teenager Albina Yevko calling for the rail company to respond ‘urgently’.

Albina, 14, was found on the beach below in March 2023 after slipping from the wall while walking in the dark.

In July last year, a woman fell to her death while riding a mobility scooter along the wall which was first built in the 1840s.

Cllr Rosie Dawson, a friend of Albina and her family and campaigner for improved safety measures, said: ‘Nothing about Network Rail’s response to preventing future deaths on the old sea wall has been urgent.

‘I am disappointed, angry, yet not surprised as the response from Network Rail and inability to answer questions on safety and historic deaths at the inquest was mind blowing.

‘Information boards to help emergency services to access people injured on the beach have also still not been installed. We will not give up on the safety issue.’

A Network Rail spokesman said: ‘We have painted a white line at the edge of the sea wall to help draw awareness to it.

‘This white line currently runs from Rockstone footbridge to the start of the Coastguards footbridge end of the new sea wall.

‘At this stage, this is an experimental length to understand the durability of the white line given how exposed this location is to the weather and tide.

‘Additionally, we’ll also be installing new, consolidated signage along the sea wall, which will replace current signs.

‘This signage gives safety advice, as well as reminding people that dogs should be on leads and no cycling is allowed.’

At an inquest into Albina’s death in July 2024, coroner Alison Longhorn called on Network Rail to take action to reduce the risk of further deaths.

She issued a Prevention of Future Deaths report so Network Rail could respond ‘urgently’.

Hundreds of people signed a petition calling for safety measures to be introduced, including a handrail, lighting and better signage.

Last year, Network Rail was said to be drawing up possible solutions following both deaths.

Network Rail said it would be too expensive to install and maintain a safety railing which would be vulnerable to sea damage but that a new risk assessment was being carried out on the exposed stretch of wall since it completed work on the second phase of the new sea defences.

Speaking at the inquest, Andrew Warren, safety boss from Network Rail, said there was a public right of way and access along the wall but that Network Rail didn’t ‘invite’ people onto the sea wall.

He said in the 1970s there were a series of serious incidents where people fell or were washed off the wall but the inquest then heard from 1974 to 2008 there had been other fatalities as well as injuries there.