4:41 AM |
Author: EmerGence
By K.M. LEW
GEORGE TOWN: A coroner’s court here was told that the dragon boat used for sea training before the tragic incident on that day had suddenly swerved to the left, causing it to nearly hit a barge moored in the sea.
Student Lim Way Yang, 16, said a few of them who were seated on the left side of the boat then had to use their pedals to deflect the boat from knocking into the barge.
He said the boat then became unstable, but he was unsure if the boat had capsized.
“A few of us then fell into the sea but we still managed to cling on to the boat.
“I also heard a few others shouting each others names,” he told the court on the second day of the inquest into the dragon boat tragedy that occurred on Jan 17.
Lim, the sixth witness, was among 18 students and coaches on board the boat before the incident took place. He said he felt exhausted nad let go of the boat but moments later found himself clinging to a tyre attached to the barge.
He said the life jacket he on kept afloat when he let go of the boat.
He added that coach Tan Kok Thek and Lee Khay Yam, who was Chung Ling High School’s Dragon Boat Club chairman then, threw them a rope from the barge.
He said about seven of them, including Tan and Lee, were then pulled to safety by a fisherman’s boat that was passing by.
In the boat tragedy, a teacher and five students from Chung Ling High School drowned after their dragon boat capsized during a training session at sea off Macallum Street Ghaut.
The boat with 18 people on board became unstable after it was hit by strong waves.
It crashed into the barge that was moored nearby and capsized after it was slammed by a second wave.
A total of 28 witnesses are scheduled to testify before Coroner Noor Aini Yusof in the four-day inquest, which continues Wednesday.
Deputy Public Prosecutors Suhaimi Ibrahim and Tan Guat Cheng assisted in the inquest and counsel Tham Shein Shyong represented the Chung Ling High School.
Category:
National
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