Bodies of four missing students found

GEORGE TOWN: The bodies of four Chung Ling High School students who were missing after the dragon boat crash on Sunday, have been found – much to the anguish of family members who had been hoping for a miracle.

The body of Goh Yi Zhang, 17, was the first to be found at 8am followed by Brendon Yeoh, 17, at 12.10pm.

Both were found off the Tanjung City Marina seafront.

Two others – Cheah Zi Jun, 17 and Wang Yong Xiang, 16, were found at 4.25pm in the same area.

The bodies of two other victims, teacher Chin Aik Siang, 28, and student Jason Ch’ng, 17, were found on Sunday.

In the incident, the boat carrying 15 students, two instructors and a teacher capsized about 9am on Friday when the team was training for a dragon boat competition.

Of the six, only Chin and Ch’ng had life jackets on.

Penang police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Wira Ayub Yaakob said police and the relevant authorities were investigating the cause of the incident.

“We also want to know why most of them were not wearing life jackets,” he said, adding that the search operation ceased at 5pm.

Emotions ran high among the distraught parents as one of them hit out at pressmen for taking photographs at the scene.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng later apologised to the pressmen, adding that the family members should be given space and privacy to mourn their loss.

Meanwhile, family members of Ch’ng roped in a Taoist priest to perform a simple ritual at the site to “recall” his soul.

They were seen shouting “Ah Siang, Ah Siang, please come back” in Mandarin during the 10-minute ritual.

The body of Ch’ng, which was found underneath a tugboat, will be cremated at the Mount Erskine crematorium today.

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