By Clara Chooi
KAMPAR : Participants of a 1 Malaysia camp in Kuala Dipang here received more than the training they had bargained for when the three week-old suspension bridge they were crossing collapsed, killing one student.

Police officials confirmed this morning that the deceased is N. Dina Deve, 11, from SJKT Mambang Diawan, whose body was uncovered by volunteer divers at 8.40am, in Kampung Pasir, about 3km away from the incident site.

As of noon, two other girls remain missing, an 11-year-old also from SJKT Mambang Diawan and a 12-year-old from SJKT Gopeng. Rescue mission continues.

The three were a part of the 294 students from Standards 4, 5 and 6 of 64 schools in the Kinta Selatan district who were participating in the camp, which commenced yesterday and was due for completion the day after tomorrow. They were under the supervision of 25 teachers.

In the 10.30pm incident last night, one side of the bridge, which connects the banks between SJK Kuala Dipang and the Kinta Selatan District Education Department’s Co-Curriculum Centre, uprooted, causing part of the 50-m long suspension bridge to plunge into the water.

The students, who were in the midst of supper at the time, and were crossing the bridge to the centre to retrieve some eating utensils and serving dishes, subsequently plunged into the raging currents of the Kampar river.

A total of 22 of them were believed to have fallen to the river while the remaining group managed to escape.

Local villager Azril Shaharuddin, 32, who is also a seasoned diver, said he received an SMS from a school authority at 10.30pm, seeking his assistance to rescue the students.

“I notified my friends and then rushed to another bridge, about 3km away from the incident site,” he told reporters at the scene this morning.

He said he waited up the river, anticipating that the river currents would push the students past him.

“But all we found were clothes and shoes,” he said, adding that he and his team of about more than 10 divers then moved back to the scene of the incident.

He said that over the next few hours of the search and rescue mission, 19 students were successfully rescued.

Three others however, remained missing.

At 8.40am, Azril said that as he and another friend went back to the second bridge, they noticed something that resembled a person’s hand by the side of the river.

Upon approaching the site, they found Dina Deve’s body, lying face-down on a pile of wooden debris by the river.

The girl’s body was sent to the Kampar Hospital about 10km away from the site for a post-mortem.

When met earlier before the discovery, Dina Deve’s father, Nathan, a lorry driver from Kuala Lumpur, said he had only discovered that his daughter was taking part in the camp yesterday afternoon.

“I only received the information from my wife yesterday. I initially did not want her to take part in the camp,” he said.

The identity of the 12 year old from SJKT Gopeng has been established — V. Devashree. Her father K. Vasudevan, 43, wants his daughter's school administrators and camp organisers to be held responsible for the tragedy.

He was not keen to send his daughter, but the school made it compulsory for excellent students to attend the camp. Having visited the campsite now, the technician from Gopeng feels it is unsafe.

Meanwhile, another survivor, 12-year-old Mohamad Amnier Amzan Mohd Aspar from SK Bukit Pekan in Kampar, said that he would never again join another outdoor camp such as this.

“I am still shaky from the incident. It was a nightmare,” he told reporters here.

He said that when the incident happened, he was lucky to have managed to grab on to a part of the bridge’s pole before he plunged into the river.

“I managed to crawl up the banks to safety but I could hear the others around me, shouting for help. I was too scared to do anything,” he said.

Another student, Mohd Azid Teng, 12, from SJKC Bemban said that before the bridge collapsed, he could feel the handrails shaking, as though the students were playing with it.

“Then it just collapsed. I managed to escape and I pulled up a friend along with me,” he said.

Meanwhile, several elected representatives paid visits to the incident site since last night, including Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir.

This morning, Keranji assemblyman Chen Fook Chye, Ipoh Timor MP Lim Kit Siang, Perak DAP chief Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham, Malim Nawar assemblyman Keshvinder Singh as well as Pasir Pinji assemblyman Thomas Su visited the site.

At about 11am, Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha as well as Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin paid visits.

Muhyiddin announced that the Education Ministry would set up an investigative team, headed by Education Department director-general Datuk Alimuddin Md Dom, and comprising other officials, including those from the Public Works Department and state officials.

“At this point, we do not know yet how the bridge collapsed, and whether it has to do with negligence in terms of maintenance of the bridge or whether it is faulty structure,” he told a press conference after visiting the site.

He added that the team would interview all the victims involved as well as those who witnessed the incident.

“From what I was told, the bridge was a contribution from a company to the district education department. We will investigate to see if the structure had followed proper specifications.

“Even though the bridge is a donation or a contribution, we must ensure that it was properly constructed,” he said.

It is believed that the bridge was built to replace an old one, which had also collapsed.

He added that the ministry would determine a specific deadline for the team to conduct its investigation and furnish its findings to him.

“In the meantime, the centre will be closed until the investigations are completed,” he said.

He also announced an RM10,000 contribution from the ministry to the family of the deceased, Dina Deve.

Muhyiddin also said that the 1 Malaysia camp was an initiative under his ministry and was an ongoing nationwide one.

“We are encouraging students in the camp to eat together and undergo activities together to promote racial unity and integration,” he said.

However, in view of the tragic incident, Muhyiddin advised all teachers to be extra careful in supervising the students during the camps, to ensure that their safety was upheld at all times.

Meanwhile, efforts to locate the missing two are still ongoing.

Courtesy : TheMalysianInsider