Bodies of two missing girls found

The bodies of the two missing girls in the Kuala Dipang bridge tragedy have been found.

M. Devatharshini's body was found by a search and rescue team from Rela at about 11.30pm on Wednesday and that of V. Divyashree, 12, was recovered at about 9.25am today by a team from the army, the Star reported.

The body of 11-year-old Devatharshini was found in Tanjung Tualang about 16km from the incident site while Divyashree’s body was in Sungai Chenderiang near Tronoh Mines, 15km away.

Devatharshini is a pupil at SJK Tamil Mamban Diawan and Divyashree is from Sekolah Kebangsaan Tamil (SRJK) Gopeng.

Both girls drowned together with 11-year-old N. Dina Deve on Monday night after they and 20 other pupils fell into Sungai Kampar when a suspension bridge collapsed as they were crossing it.

They were with a group of 294 pupils, aged between 10 and 12, from 64 schools in the Kinta Selatan district attending a four-day 1Malaysia camp organised by the Education Ministry to foster better ties between the races.

The camp, which started on Monday, was held at the Kinta Selatan district education office co-curriculum centre in SK Kuala Dipang, Jeram, near here.

Those who survived the incident said they had supper at SK Kuala Dipang and were crossing the bridge to get to the campsite, when a few of them started jumping and shaking the bridge.

It was later found that a metal pillar anchoring the cable of the bridge was ripped off its concrete foundation, causing the bridge walkway, with those on it, to plunge into the river.

Some pupils fell into shallower waters and managed to wade out, while others were pulled out by a teacher who was nearby and ran to the scene of the incident.

The iron-cable bridge, suspended nine metres above the river, was built recently to replace an old one that had fallen apart with age.


My condolences to their families. May they rest in peace.