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She had flown in from Sibu, Sarawak — hours by air, then hours more by road.
When Joey Ling Lin Siang’s mother finally reached Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar, Kedah, at 4:56 pm Sunday (5 April), she did not ask about investigations or standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Joey, where are you? Mummy loves you. Mummy doesn’t want you to die.
The 20-year-old student from Institut Pendidikan Guru (IPG) Perlis was one of two trainee teachers who drowned during a college-organised kayaking exercise at Pantai Merdeka, Kuala Muda, Kedah, on Saturday afternoon (4 April), when a group of 35 students took to the water around 6 pm.
As the group paddled past a river mouth, they were caught in a sudden, strong current.
Five of the approximately 30 kayaks were swept off course, became entangled in fishing nets, and capsized; multiple students fell into the water.
From Search-and-Rescue to Accountability
Tanjung Dawai police received an emergency call and immediately launched a search-and-rescue operation, assisted by local fishermen.
By 7:30 pm, the bodies of both victims had been recovered and sent to Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Setar for post-mortem.
Kuala Muda district police chief Assistant Commissioner Hanyan Ramlan confirmed the case is currently classified as sudden death, with investigations ongoing to determine the exact cause.
The Ministry of Education expressed “deep sorrow” over the deaths in a statement, saying it had activated emergency assistance for both families and arranged psychological counselling support.
The ministry also confirmed it had launched a parallel internal investigation to review whether SOPs had been properly followed — even as a separate probe by relevant authorities was already underway.
In the same statement, the ministry reminded all educational institutions under its purview to strictly adhere to established SOPs when organising off-campus activities, and to make participant safety the foremost priority.
A Grief That Travelled Thousands of Kilometres
The male victim has been identified as Christopher Ling Jia Siang, 21.
For Lim’s family, the grief was compounded by geography — a cross-country journey from East Malaysia to claim a daughter who had gone to college to become a teacher.
Deputy Education Minister Wong Kah Woh visited the female victim’s family at the hospital to offer condolences.
Two students are dead.
The question now is whether their college did enough to keep them safe.
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A Mother’s Cry, And Two Empty Seats: Malaysia’s Teacher College Kayaking Deaths Expose Safety Gaps
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