Eleven parties were named as defendants in a RM105 million negligence suit today filed by the parents of three pupils who died in the Kuala Dipang suspension bridge tragedy on Oct 26.

The suit was filed at 10.22am by their lawyer A Sivanesan at the Ipoh High Court complex on behalf of the fathers of the three girls who are suing the 11 parties for RM35 million each.

T NONE he plaintiffs are Mageswaran Kaliaperumal, 46, representing Devatharshini, Vasudevan Kuppan, 43, representing Divyashree and Nathan Thangavelu, 44, representing Dinadevi.

The 11 defendants are the headmasters of SJK (T) Mambang Diawan and SJK (T) Gopeng, the Kinta Selatan district education officer, the Perak state education department, the Kampar district chairperson, Perak Jabatan Kerja Raya state director, the commandant of Kuala Dipang 1Malaysia camp, Syarikat GS Synergy Sdn Bhd (the sponsor of the bridge), Syarikat CWL Enterprise (the contractor for the bridge), the Minister of Education and the Malaysian government.

NONE Devatharshini and Dinadevi (left), both 11, were from SJK (T) Mambang Diawan in Batu Gajah and Divyashree,12, from SJK (T) Gopeng. They were among 22 pupils taking in a 1Malaysia camp

The tragedy occurred as the 22 were crossing the bridge to get to their campsite which was on the other side of the Kampar river.

Nineteen pupils were saved but the three were swept away by the river's strong current. Their bodies were recovered later.

Holding them accountable

According to Sivanesan, Dinadevi, a standard five pupil was roped into the camp at the last minute as there were insufficient standard six pupils for the camp, held forge closer ties among the races.

"The Drainage and Irrigation Department only allowed the state education department to use the banks of the river. It did not give permission for the department to construct a bridge across the river to the camp site," he said.

NONE "So, we are holding all the government departments involved in this illegal bridge project responsible for the tragedy. There were no safety measures taken to protect the children, like providing them with life jackets.

"There was no spotlight to guide the children using the bridge at night when the tragedy occurred at about 10pm," he said.

Sivanesan said that the parents had turned to Pakatan for help as they had no confidence in the committee led by the Education Ministry's director-general, appointed to look into the incident.

"There is a conflict of interest here as it was the director-general who was responsible for giving permission to build the bridge and also to organise the 1Malaysia camp."

NONE Sivanesan who did a company search of the contractor involved in the construction of the bridge, said the company, CWL Enterprise, based in Puchong was not qualified to carry out construction works such as building bridges.

"The company has operated since 2006 and their objectives are to only carry out interior designing services and office renovation," he said.

The parents of the three girls later told reporters that what was more important to them was to bring to justice the culprits responsible for the accident and prevent such tragedies from happening again.

Parliament to get bridge collapse report on Dec 7