The parents of Jenna Chan, a 15-year-old British student, have filed a negligence lawsuit in the Singapore High Court against St . Joseph's Institution International (SJII) and a research charity. The legal action follows a November 2024 incident in the Maldives where the teenager died after being struck by a boat propeller.
The propeller strike in the South Ari Marine Protected Area
The incident occurred during a week-long expedition where students assisted the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme (MWSRP), a UK-registered charity. According to the Statement of Claim, Jenna Chan was struck by a rotating boat propeller shortly after entering the water for a whale shark excursion in the South Ari Marine Protected Area. While she briefly regained consciousness and asked for help, she was pronounced dead at the Dhigurah Health Centre less than an hour later.
The tragedy is compounded by the fact that this excursion was not an optional extracurricular activity. Jenna Chan, a Grade 9 student aspiring to enter the medical field,was participating in a mandatory trip required for her promotion to the next academic year, placing a heightened burden of care on the organizing institutions.
Missing propeller guards and the search for emergency oxygen
The lawsuit alleges a catastrophic breakdown in safety protocols by the MWSRP guides and boat crew. The claim asserts that three guides abandoned the vessel to investigate a dolphin sighting, leaving the boat's engine engaged while Jenna Chan and another student remained in the water. The guides were reportedly so far from the vessel that they required assistance from a nearby boat to return to their own ship.
Furthermore, as reported in the lawsuit, the vessel lacked a propeller guard—a standard safety feature—and had no emergency oxygen on board. First responders had to source oxygen from a neighboring dive boat. the parents also allege that the crew failed to contact the Maldives Coast Guard or a sea ambulance, which could have expedited the transport of the injured teenager to medical facilities.
SJII's alleged failure to vet the Maldives as a destination
Beyond the immediate failures of the boat crew, the legal action targets the administrative oversight of St. Joseph's Institution International (SJII). The parents claim the school failed to properly vet the Maldives as a safe destination, ignoring a documented history of marine tourism fatalities in those waters. Specifically, the claim points to a similar fatal propeller incident that occurred in the region the previous year.
This case reflects a growing tension in international education regarding the outsourcing of high-risk activities to third-party vendors. The lawsuit argues that SJII failed to ensure that the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme was a suitably qualified vendor to manage the safety of school-aged children in a high-risk marine environment.
The 20-month silence from St. Joseph's Institution International
The decision to litigate comes after what the family describes as 20 months of non-cooperation from the school. Jennifer Liauw and Alan Chan, Jenna's parents, stated that they spent over a year and a half seeking answers and attempting to work with the institution to prevent future accidents, but found every door closed.
A critical point of contention remains the lack of a formal investigation. The family maintains there was "no real investigation" into the chain of errors that led to the death. Because the source of the reporting is the Statement of Claim, the public record currnetly reflects only the parents' allegations; SJII and MWSRP have not yet provided a public rebuttal to these specific claims of negligence.
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