The Sungei Petani Sessions Court ruled yesterday that a dredging contractor and the state land and mines department director were negligent and therefore liable for the death of three children in 1998.

The department head had granted the contractor Abdul Halim Hashim a permit to dredge sand from the Sungai Sidim near Kampung Bikan in Kulim, Kedah.

(The department director was not named in the civil suit, as he was not being sued in a personal capacity.)

Zuraidah Zulkippli, aged 4, Faizul Azizi Mat Saad, 10, and Nur Shadatina Adnan, 3, who lived in Kampung Bikan, drowned in the river on Jan 21, 1998.

“Both defendants were found to have been negligent and ordered to jointly pay RM12,000 in damages to the parents of each of the children, as well as interests and costs,” said Theivani Amarthalingam, the lawyer for the parents, when contacted.

According to the plaintiffs who had filed the suit in 2001, many villagers and their children had previously gone to swim in the river and picnic on the banks.

However, they contended that the dredging activities had altered the course of the river and that deepening of the river had led, in particular, to instability of the banks.

In this respect, they claimed the defendants had failed to take sufficient steps to prevent the river from becoming dangerous to children who might play near it.

Theivanai said Sessions Court Judge Azizah Mahamud ruled that Abdul Halim had extracted more sand than was allowed by the conditions of the permit.

The department director, meanwhile, had failed to monitor and supervise the dredging activities and determine compliance with the conditions set.

Both were found to have failed to put up any fence or adequate warning signs to prevent the children who died or anyone else from entering the stretch where the dredging activities had taken place.

When contacted, Abdul Halim’s lawyer Ali Munawar Razak said he has yet to receive instructions from his client on filing an appeal.

The federal counsel representing the department director could not be reached for comment.