In a release yesterday, Gordon Harrison revealed that her office was following through on a desire to probe the incident, and that every effort would be made to ascertain the circumstances which led to the deaths of the two youths whose safety was entrusted to their teachers after their parents gave permission for them to go on the field trip to St Mary.

"If the reports concerning this incident are indeed accurate, it is of a troubling nature. It is with a deep sense of sadness and utter amazement that the teachers who were entrusted with the care of the children, could have displayed such wanton disregard in exercising proper safety precautions in relation to their students," Gordon Harrison said, reiterating comments made on the weekend.

In the meantime, the school board of St Andrew College is to meet today to decide the fate of the teachers who supervised the educational trip to St Mary Estate.

Principal Donovan Isaacs said the teachers could be sanctioned as they breached the regulations of the school and acted beyond the parents' and school's consent.

The group of more than 30 students, led by four teachers, was granted permission by the school administration to visit the plantation.

However, on completion of the tour, the students along with teachers reportedly extended their trip to Portland for a period of recreation.

That was when things took an ugly turn as Shane Burke and Demel Osbourne drowned when the group visited Shan Shay Beach in Bryan's Bay, as reward for good conduct.

Isaacs said the teacher who was responsible for the trip has been traumatised and has not reported for school since the incident.

Yesterday, school was back to normal but students who have been directly affected by the incident were still undergoing counselling.

"We haven't gone into the details because we have to see who is the one who decided that the trip must go, but what we are concerned about is that others were there and they are adults and they are supposed to know that they didn't leave for this so I give all of them the blame for going to the beach," he argued.

"So they are going to be dealt with. What we want to find out is if it was a pre- or if it was just an on-the-spot decision. If it was a pre-decision it means that we may have to fire... . I am sure the board is going to decide on that but if it was an on-the-spot thing then they might suspend them for a time," he added.

The principal said while the team was at the beach, two of the teachers went out to purchase food but the other two teachers who were left behind were taken up dealing with an "asthmatic situation".

A team from the Ministry of Education, led by the acting Permanent Secretary Grace McLean, visited the school yesterday to offer moral support to the school community.

Following a closed door meeting with the principal, the students and teachers were summoned to the auditorium for a short counselling session.

According to McLean, the incident was a breach of the ministry's policy which stipulates that beach trips are not allowed.

"The policy has been in place for quite a while now. On a yearly basis we send out a reminder to the schools to indicate what are stipulated procedures as it relates to educational trips students go on," she charged.

"The case is being investigated by the police. It is also being investigated by our security officer at the Ministry of Education. The board of directors of the school will be meeting along with the principal to assess the situation and will make a determination as to the appropriate sanctions that will be meted out based on the procedures of this institution," she said.

President of the Jamaica Independent Schools' Association Reverend Silvester O'Gilvie said the association would be intervening in the matter but that he was unable to say in what way until the association meets this week.

View the photos of the search and recovery here