Father of drowned boy wants answers from school

KOTA KINABALU: A father buried his only son - Nicholas Chong Zhen Yi - on Friday (Feb 15) with many questions still unanswered regarding what happened to his 14-year-old boy who died during his school’s swimming lesson at a public pool on Wednesday (Feb 13).

“I am not blaming anyone. I just want to know what happened on that day," said Chong Kam Fei, 49. 

"I’ve heard so much from his classmates, I believe he could have been saved,” he said tearfully as he and his wife Vivien Lee and their nine–year-old daughter prepared to bury their son.

Nicholas was found dead in a 5m swimming pool at the sports complex here.

Chong said his son had taken swimming lessons when he was nine but had not swam since then.

He believed his son could not swim. Moreover, the incident happened during just his second lesson with the school which previously used the shallower pool of a resort and not the professional one in Likas.

“I didn’t even know they were using the pool in Likas. Did they know if the children were capable of swimming in a pool used for professional swimmers?” he asked at the press conference.

The businessman also wanted to know about the supervision of the teachers, as well as whether there were lifeguards or swimming instructors around.

He said from what he gathered from his son's classmates, the students shouted for help when they saw Nicholas struggling. The swimming instructor was at another pool and not where the children were.

“The teacher might have thought they were playing around. That isn’t right,” he said, adding that he was waiting for answers from the school.

“I want answers. I cannot let it happen again. I don’t want this to happen to anyone else's son or daughter,” Chong said.

In a statement released on Friday (Feb 15), the Kinabalu International School principal Ian Gross said that Nicholas was in the second year with the school and had many friends and was well liked by his teachers.

Family members, school teachers and parents of his classmates attended the funeral, which was also saw the attendance of state Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Frankie Poon.

The case is still being investigated by police, who are waiting for a toxicology report.