Kota Kinabalu: PBS Secretary-General Radin Malleh said the relevant authorities and departments should take stock and streamline their work priorities for the benefit and interest of the people.

"We should bear in mind that they are charged with duties and responsibilities that should always prevail," he said. He was responding to our front page report Thursday titled "A Lesson In Tragedy" pertaining to a fatal accident involving a 16-year-old La Salle student in Tanjung Aru here on Feb. 2.

According to him, he could not hold back his tears upon reading the article. "I could feel the situation the Majawait family is in after losing their only child in such a manner," he said.

In the report, Marcus Majawait, a JKR personnel, disclosed the traumatic experience he and his wife Margaret underwent, that led to the death of Timothy four days after admission at QEH on Feb.6. Timothy was knocked down by a speeding car driving by another 16-year-old as he was crossing the road to a waiting schoolbus, at noon on that fateful day (Feb 2). The driver, said to be a dropout of the school, was about to fetch a younger brother in a Honda V6 when the mishap occurred at 12.50pm.

According to Marcus, he also found out that the schoolbus driver left the scene immediately without rendering any assistance to the victim. He also regretted that Timothy's headwound was stitched only after four hours of unconsciousness and bleeding, having been rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here immediately following the incident.

The staff was said to have replied to Marcus and family members who waited anxiously at the casualty unit that nobody was around to attend to it. Radin said the departments concerned should be responsible enough to find ways and means to reduce such tragedies and casualties under their purview, and not treat them as routine occurrences, citing the shortage of manpower as an excuse.