Students survive boat capsize in Ulu Baram river

MIRI (March 18): A boat carrying students from SMK Temenggong Datuk Lawai Jau in Long San, Baram, capsized and sank in the Ulu Baram river on Tuesday night as they were returning home to Long Palai for the Hari Raya holidays.

No casualties or injuries were reported.

The total number of students on board and the cause of the incident have yet to be confirmed.

The incident first surfaced on social media through posts by Rasat Sebing on the Borneo Village Life Facebook page, as well as by a Penan girl from Long Sait in Ulu Baram.

Telang Usan assemblyman Datuk Dennis Ngau later confirmed that all passengers survived the incident.

“The students were provided with life jackets, but I am concerned that they were travelling at night.

“The school had allowed them to leave earlier at about 10.30am for safety reasons, and this is dangerous,” he told The Borneo Post.

Long Palai is located upriver from Long San and can be accessed by road or river, although road conditions in the area remain poor.

“In Ulu Baram, we are now back to conditions similar to the 1930s as former logging roads have fallen into disrepair, and it takes time for proper government roads to be built,” he said.

He added that basic road access, even without tar sealing, is urgently needed to improve connectivity for residents in Baram.

In April last year, a school management assistant from SK Long Jekitan, Dawellies Luing, 46, and his daughter Vallerie Mentie, nine, died after the four-wheel-drive vehicle they were travelling in was swept away by strong river currents while returning to Long Sengayan.