By Ng Tze Yong and Zubaidah Nazeer

AMID the churning currents, the teacher kept his vice-like grip on the two boys, barely keeping their heads above water.

Ahead of Mr Mohd Safri Abdul Rafar, 43, was a sight that might haunt him for the rest of his life.

He found himself watching helplessly as a girl, mere metres from him, started losing her grip on a cable, her strength seeping away.

Related link: » 22 pupils feared drowned after hanging bridge collapse » 'Malaysian girl dead, two missing after bridge collapse

The teacher had already saved a few students when he was faced with the dilemma. Try to save the girl and he may lose the two boys he had just rescued.

A suspension bridge that the students were standing on moments earlier had collapsed, plunging 22 children, aged between 11 and 12, into the swift-flowing Kampar River.

Camping trip The incident happened at 10pm on Monday, the first day of a school camping trip at a site about 10km from the town of Kampar, about two hours' drive north of Kuala Lumpur.

Mr Mohd Safri told The New Paper in a phone interview last night: "I was holding on to two boys and I couldn't let go of them to help the girl.

"They were so weak already and breathless. If I had let go of them, they would have surely floated away and died." Moments later, the girl lost her grip and drifted away.

"I couldn't see her face... I just heard her screams of "Cikgu, tolong saya!" ('Teacher, help me!')," he said, his voice shaking at times.

"And then, I couldn't hear her screams any more."

If only he could have saved her, the father of a 16-year-old son and 12-year-old girl felt.

He hasn't slept since the incident, haunted by the faces, the screams, the what-ifs.

One girl is dead and two girls are missing as of press time. The rest are safe.

Mr Mohd Safri was one of 23 teachers involved in the Malaysia camp, in which 298 students from 60 primary schools participated.

The students had finished supper and were crossing the bridge to get to the campsite when a few of them started jumping and shaking the bridge, The Star newspaper quoted a survivor as saying.

Ironically, the iron-cable bridge, suspended about 3m above the river, was built recently to replace one that had fallen apart with age.

When the accident happened, Mr Mohd Safri, who was nearby, leapt over a fence and jumped into the water.

The river, known for its extreme sports activities, was only about 1.2m deep then. But as it had been raining upstream earlier, the currents were swift.

Worried that his jeans were dragging him down, Mr Mohd Safri climbed out and removed his clothes before jumping back in wearing only his underwear.

He said he managed to pull out seven or eight students.

Heavy heart

"On the one hand, I was happy to have at least been able to save the pupils... but I'm still so sad about not being able to save that last girl," he said.

"I haven't cried a drop. But my heart is so heavy thinking about that girl I couldn't save.

The image of her, struggling in the river, yelling for help, has been playing in my head."

Initial investigations revealed that the anchor for the bridge's cable failed, The Star reported.

About 200 people from the police, navy, fire department and nearby villages are involved in the search, aided by aluminium boats, rescue dogs and a helicopter, reported Bernama.

Yesterday evening, the search was extended a further 15km downstream, in the hope of finding the missing schoolgirls, aged 12 and 11.

The Education Ministry has pledged RM10,000 (S$4,000) in aid to the family of the dead girl, identified as 11-year-old Dina Deve Nathan.

Rescuers found her body about 2km downstream at 8.40am yesterday.

Denied access to the morgue as only relatives were allowed in, Mr Mohd Safri is still not sure what happened to the girl he failed to save.

But he believes she is either the girl who drowned or one of the missing two.

"My friends, when they heard I saved the pupils, called and SMSed me, saying I did a heroic thing," said Mr Mohd Safri, who has been teaching for the past 20 years.

"My wife and children are also proud of me. But I am sad and disappointed that some pupils did not take the safety reminders and briefings seriously."

Incidentally, this is the second time that Mr Mohd Safri has tried to save someone.

Four years ago, a motorcyclist skidded in front of him. Mr Mohd Safri quickly stopped his car, got out and directed traffic.

He managed to stay there till help arrived but the motorcyclist, who broke his neck, didn't make it.

Dad didn't know that drowned girl went for camp

THE father of the drowned girl, a lorry driver from Kuala Lumpur, said he had only discovered his daughter was taking part in the camp on Monday afternoon, hours before the tragedy, reported The Malaysian Insider.

"I initially did not want her to take part in the camp," said the man, known only as Mr Nathan.

Local villager Azril Shaharuddin, 32, discovered the body of Mr Nathan's daughter, Dina, lying face down on a pile of wooden debris by the river.

Mr Azril, a seasoned diver who led a team of volunteer divers in the rescue mission, said that he received an SMS from a school seeking his assistance at 10.30pm on Monday.

He immediately notified his friends and rushed to another bridge, a few kilometres away from the scene of the accident, as he anticipated that the river current would push the students past him.

"But all we found were clothes and shoes," said Mr Azril.

He and his team of more than 10 divers then went to the scene of the accident.

In the morning, he and a friend returned to their original spot, where they noticed something that looked like a hand by the side of the river.

That was how they discovered Dina's body.

The father of a missing girl, Mr K Vasudevan, 43, wants his daughter's school administrators and camp organisers to be held responsible for the tragedy.

He was not keen to send his daughter for the camp but the school made it compulsory for top students to attend, he was quoted as saying by The Malaysian Insider.

Student K Mathivanan, 12, said the bridge was swaying a lot before it collapsed as the students jumped about and played with one another on it.

"All of a sudden, we found ourselves thrown into the river," he said.

Another survivor, 12-year-old Mohamad Amnier, said that he would never again join an outdoor camp.

He said that he was lucky to have managed to grab on to a pole before he plunged into the river.

"I managed to crawl up the banks to safety but I could hear the others around me shouting for help," he said.

"I was too scared to do anything."

After visiting the scene, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said: "At this point, we do not know how the bridge collapsed and whether it has to do with negligence in terms of maintenance of the bridge or whether it is faulty structure."

He said the ministry will set up an investigation team.

This article was first published in The New Paper.