SEREMBAN, March 11 — The family of a 17-year-old student who loved swimming but drowned in only 182cm of water at his school’s swimming pool here on February 26 feels something amiss in the circumstances surrounding his death.

They are perplexed that the 176cm-tall Daniel was found motionless at the bottom of the pool at SMK King George V (KGV) which he was familiar with since enrolling last year.  

His father, Abdul Razak Udin, 55, said his son was an able swimmer who knew his way around the pool.

“He also played rugby and football. I find it difficult to accept that he drowned in such a depth. It just does not add up,’ he told Malay Mail at his home in Kampung Ulu Lalang near here.

The retired hawker and his wife, Zanariah  Ali, 48, are also concerned that neither the police nor school authorities had officially informed them about the cause of death.

Abdul Razak said headmaster Mohd Md Isa had offered nothing more than condolences.

He found it hard to believe that his son had died in the presence of at least 10 other students there to decorate the area for the school sports day the next day.

Abdul Razak felt that a teacher should have been there all the time to keep an eye on students using the pool.

“I understand that there was a teacher there but he was busy with the decorations,” he added.

At 3pm that fateful Friday, he received a call from his younger brother, Ahmad Rahimuddin, asking him to come to Seremban Hospital where Daniel had been taken after the incident.

Abdul Razak arrived not knowing his son’s condition but saw doctors frantically trying to resuscitate him.

He said they then pronounced Daniel dead, adding that he had drowned.

Zanariah said Daniel’s death had badly affected her daughter, Nurul Dania Nafisa, nine, who has been withdrawn since the incident. 

“Nurul has been in a very sombre mood since her brother’s incident. It really saddens to see her like this, as she was close to her only brother,” she said.

She said her last memory of her son was when Daniel told her he wanted to help out with the sports day decorations around the swimming pool before leaving to school that morning.

Two of Daniels classmates, who requested anonymity, said he was a studious and disciplined person who had mastered swimming.

Meanwhile, Deputy Education Minister Chong Sin Woon, who visited the school on March 1, said he had ordered the pool to be closed indefinitely until safety procedures had been reviewed.

He said the district education department had submitted a preliminary report on the incident to the ministry.

However, officials are awaiting post-mortem results from the hospital besides police findings.