Dad didn't know that drowned girl went for camp

THE father of the drowned girl, a lorry driver from Kuala Lumpur, said he had only discovered his daughter was taking part in the camp on Monday afternoon, hours before the tragedy, reported The Malaysian Insider.

"I initially did not want her to take part in the camp," said the man, known only as Mr Nathan.

Local villager Azril Shaharuddin, 32, discovered the body of Mr Nathan's daughter, Dina, lying face down on a pile of wooden debris by the river.

Mr Azril, a seasoned diver who led a team of volunteer divers in the rescue mission, said that he received an SMS from a school seeking his assistance at 10.30pm on Monday.

He immediately notified his friends and rushed to another bridge, a few kilometres away from the scene of the accident, as he anticipated that the river current would push the students past him.

"But all we found were clothes and shoes," said Mr Azril.

He and his team of more than 10 divers then went to the scene of the accident.

In the morning, he and a friend returned to their original spot, where they noticed something that looked like a hand by the side of the river.

That was how they discovered Dina's body.

The father of a missing girl, Mr 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 for the camp but the school made it compulsory for top students to attend, he was quoted as saying by The Malaysian Insider.

Student K Mathivanan, 12, said the bridge was swaying a lot before it collapsed as the students jumped about and played with one another on it.

"All of a sudden, we found ourselves thrown into the river," he said.

Another survivor, 12-year-old Mohamad Amnier, said that he would never again join an outdoor camp.

He said that he was lucky to have managed to grab on to a 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," he said.

"I was too scared to do anything."

After visiting the scene, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said: "At this point, we do not know 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 said the ministry will set up an investigation team.

This article was first published in The New Paper.