No teachers were present on the night of Oct 26 when the Kuala Dipang bridge in Kampar collapsed killing three school children, according to a probe.

According to a Perak Pakatan Rakyat ad hoc committee, tasked to look into the incident, the fault lay with adult irresponsibility.

NONE The committee had found that no teachers were present when 22 children were crossing the suspension bridge, which itself had been shown to have been slung across minus vital safety features.

Not just teachers but also other members of officialdom with links to the private sector had played a role in the event that would not have occurred if normal procedures had been followed, it alleged.

Speaking at a press conference today, Pakatan ousted speaker V Sivakumar, who headed the committee, said the affected parents and the pupils of the 1Malaysia camp incident had been interviewed to get a proper picture of what had happened.

Several irregularities

According to Sivakumar, several irregularities had contributed to the tragic event.

NONE The first, he stressed, was that no teachers were present to supervise the crossing of the primary school children at the time of the incident.

"Initially, there were only three teachers supervising the children from SK Kuala Dipang walking along the suspension bridge across the Kampar River to the camping area.

"The rest of the 22 teachers who were supposed to be overseeing the entire group of 294 pupils were having a meeting at the school building," he said.

"Even the three teachers vanished and there were no teachers present during the fateful crossing of the 22 pupils when the bridge collapsed," he added.

NONE In the incident, 19 of the pupils were saved but the unfortunate three - N Dina Deve and M Davadharshini both 11 and from the same school SJK (T) Mambang Diawan in Batu Gajah and V Diviyasri, 12, of SJK (T) Gopeng - were swept away by the strong currents and drowned.

They were with the group of 294 pupils aged between 10 and 12, from 64 schools in the Kinta Selatan district attending the four-day camp organised by the Education Ministry to foster better ties among the races.

The pupils were monitored by 25 teachers and the camp was located at the Kinta Selatan district education office co-curricular centre in SK Kuala Dipang, Jeram near Kampar.

No life jackets

Meanwhile, Sivakumar said the 22 children were not wearing life jackets when they started to cross the bridge and the life jackets were thrown to the victims only after the bridge had collapsed.

This was revealed to Sivakumar by M Sarveswaren, the 12-year-old brother of deceased Davadharshini, who was also a camp participant.

NONE Sivakumar also revealed that the directive was that only six children are allowed on the bridge at any one time.

However, without the supervision of the teachers, the 22 pupils went on the bridge at about the same time and the bridge gave way.

Sivakumar also lauded the three teachers - two males and a female - who jumped into the river to save many of the 19 children.

"The death of both Standard Five pupils Dina and Davadharshini is ironic as both were not in the original list of Standard Six pupils picked for the camp after the UPSR examinations.

NONE "Both were supposed to sit for their class examinations but instead were roped in at the last minute," he said.

He added that the parents of the dead pupils were not properly briefed on the outing, but merely told to sign letters of indemnity with a footnote stating that the school or the Education Department shall not be held responsible for any untoward incident at the camp.

As deceased Dina's father Nathan, 44, was absent, her mother Mohana, 36, who is an illiterate, simply placed a thumb-print on the consent form.

As for Davadharshini, her mother Nagarathana, 41, also signed the form without knowing where her daughter was being taken to.

Also at the press conference were two other committee members, assemblypersons Chang Lih Kang (Teja) and Dr Khalil Idham Lim Abdullah (Titi Serong).

Another bombshell

Chang threw another bombshell: the ill-fated bridge was allegedly not approved by the local authorities and was illegally built in haste for the 1Malaysia camp.

NONE This is the information the committee received from the Land Office and Kampar Municipal Council that both the sponsor and contractor are based in Kuala Lumpur.

According to Chang, the district officer and his deputy had told him that before any structure is built, plans have to be submitted and approved by the council.

The council will then forward the building plans to the fire, health, drainage and irrigation and environment departments for their joint approval.

Chang said he had learnt from the authorities that when federal projects are implemented at the district level, the norm is to bulldoze the project through without consulting and without the local authorities' approval.