A lack of coordination and an indifferent attitude among the authorities have been blamed for ineffective rescue efforts when a suspension bridge over the Kampar River collapsed on Oct 26.

Tempers were frayed when 50 participants took part in an emotionally-charged Pakatan Rakyat ‘public inquiry’ into the incident, in which three primary students lost their lives.

Thirteen eyewitnesses narrated their version of the horrifying incident during the four-hour ‘inquiry’ held in Kampar on Saturday.

dipang bridge tragedy 141109 t nathan s mogana Most vocal of them was lorry driver T Nathan, 44, (right in photo) who lost his daughter Dina Deve, 11, that night. M Davadharshini,11, and V Diviyasri,12 also drowned in the incident.

“Why weren’t measures put in place to safeguard the 300 pupils?” asked Nathan in anger and anguish.

“There were no bomba (fire and rescue services), medical or Rela personnel on hand to help the 22 children when they fell into the river. If a VIP or a minister’s child was taking part in the camp, there would have been adequate safety measures.

“But who are we? Just poor people whose lives are not important and can be sacrificed and forgotten.”

M Balan, 41, a teacher with the Sri Murugan Centre, said 21 of his students had reported for the four-day camp, involving 298 pupils from 64 schools in the Kinta Selatan district

It was organised by the Education Ministry to foster better ties among the races under the1Malaysia concept. The district education officer had directed 40 teachers to be on duty but only 23 turned up.

dipang bridge tragedy 141109 crowd “There was chaos and confusion among the teachers as to what to do when the bridge collapsed and the children fell into the swift-flowing river, as none of them (the teachers) were given prior training as to how to cope with an emergency,” said Balan.

A 12-year-old student (name withheld to protect his safety) said: “It was not the teachers who threw safety vests (as was reported in the media) to (the 19 students in river) but it was us (the students) who ran to the storeroom and got these items to help save them.”

He said the 19 were left clinging to the metal cable of the collapsed bridge in the darkness for about 30 minutes before any attempt was made to save them. He said he had jumped into the river to save two of his classmates.

The student also claimed that there was only one teacher standing in the middle span of the bridge to control the pupils just before the bridge collapsed.

Safety guideline ignored

Earlier, the inquiry heard that pupils who had finished dinner were told to go back and clean used plates left on the other side of the river.

The to and fro movement of the pupils on the suspension bridge resulted in the weakened anchor block being ripped off its foundation, caused the bridge to collapse .

It is learnt that only six pupils were allowed at any one time on the bridge but that this guideline was ignored.

NONE Balan said: “The bomba personnel were searching for survivors in a boat and refused to allow anxious parents to dive into the river to search for the pupils.”

He then used an alternate route about 5km away to get to the other side of the river to search for his students. However, the school authorities prevented him from leading the students back by the same route.

A frustrated Balan said he waited about three hours in the darkness for a rescue truck to come, and finally, in desperation, took the students over to the other side. It took another half an hour for a police truck o come to the rescue of other stranded students.

“There was very poor coordination and an indifferent attitude among the authorities concerned,” he alleged.

Another participant asked for the attendance list of the teachers so that they can be held accountable and not claim that they were not on duty during the incident.

An angry participant blasted the media for reporting that Indian Malaysian students had been jumping on the bridge, leading to its collapse.

“You mean to say that it is always the fault of the Indian community for any untoward incident in the country?” he asked.

dipang bridge tragedy 141109 ad hoc committee However, Tronoh assemblyperson V Sivakumar (extreme left in photo) , who is heading an ad hoc committee investigating the incident, told the parent that the fault lay with poor construction of the bridge.

“The authorities will find excuses to divert the blame from their shortcomings in building the illegal bridge but we will nail them,” he assured the 50 participants.

A 41-year-old mother of one of the drowned girls lamented that none of the school teachers came to pay their last respects and counsel those bereaved in their hour of need.

“Furthermore they (the teachers) had the cheek to say that we had assaulted them after the incident, when we did not do this,” she said.

The inquiry panel is expected to release its findings later today.