UPDATE : A volunteer instructor at SAFRA Yishun was sentenced to six months’ jail for causing the death of a 15-year-old student. The instructor, Muhammad Nurul Hakim Mohamed Din, failed to check the student’s harness properly, causing it to come unbuckled and suffocate the student. The student was rescued over half an hour later but had already stopped breathing. Nurul Hakim pleaded guilty to causing grievous hurt through a rash act.
The company responsible for organizing the rope-course activity that tragically resulted in the death of a 15-year-old boy Jethro Puah Xin Yang during a school camp has been charged in court over workplace safety lapses.
On Tuesday, Camelot, the outdoor adventure learning company, along with one of its employees, Liew Foo Loong, faced charges under the Workplace Safety and Health Act.
According to the reports, the charges allege that both Camelot and Liew failed to take necessary measures, leading to the death of Jethro Puah Xin Yang. Jethro lost his life when he fell off a rope course and became suspended in a loose harness during an Anglo Chinese School (Independent) camp program at SAFRA Yishun in 2021.
According to the charge sheets, Camelot and Liew are accused of three failures.
Firstly, they allegedly failed to ensure that instructors received proper training and instruction on rescue operations if a rope harness becomes loose or unsecured.
Secondly, they allegedly neglected to provide adequate supervision during the donning of safety harnesses by participants. Lastly, they are accused of failing to properly maintain the harnesses.
The charge sheets state that these lapses contributed directly to the death of Jethro on February 3, 2021. Neither Liew nor a company representative indicated how they would plead during the court hearing.
The cases will be heard again in February.
This development follows the guilty plea entered by Muhammad Nurul Hakim Mohamed Din, the instructor in charge of the rope course on the day of the incident. Nurul faces a charge of a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide, as he allegedly failed to ensure that Jethro’s leg straps were properly buckled and adjusted before allowing him onto the rope course.
WHAT HAPPENED :
The instructor was charged in Sep 2022 in relation to the death of a 15-year-old student who died in February 2021 after an incident during a school camp. Muhammad Nurul Hakim Mohamed Din, 22, was charged on for causing the death of 15-year-old Puah Xin Yang Jethro. The incident occurred at the SAFRA Adventure Sports Centre in Yishun.
According to the charge, Din committed a rash act by failing to ensure that both of Jethro’s leg straps were properly buckled and adjusted before sending him onto the rope course. As a result, Jethro fell off the course and his leg straps became completely unbuckled. He died from multi-organ failure and traumatic asphyxia.
Din was the dispatcher of the Canopy Sky Walk rope course at the time of the incident.
The activity was organized by outdoor adventure learning company, Camelot. Din did not indicate how he would plead and is being defended by lawyer Azri Imran Tan. Tan requested bail for his client and time to gather instructions. In a statement released in February last year, SAFRA Yishun referred to the incident as a “mishap” and stated that Jethro was participating in an ACS (Independent) camp program.
Jethro suffered multi-organ failure and traumatic asphyxia, resulting in his death. The charge sheet against Nurul states that he was suspended in the loose harness after falling, and his leg straps became completely unbuckled.
In response to the tragedy, the Ministry of Education suspended all outdoor activities involving heights for schools. Height-based activities will gradually resume from February 2023, but with reduced capacity and stricter safety measures in place.
Photos via Facebook
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