East Java, Ind. (BN24) – Rescue teams in Indonesia were racing Tuesday to locate dozens of students still believed to be trapped beneath the rubble of a collapsed Islamic boarding school in East Java, where at least three people have been confirmed dead and nearly 100 others injured.
The Al Khoziny Islamic Boarding School in Sidoarjo, about 480 miles east of Jakarta, suddenly gave way during afternoon prayers on Monday. Disaster officials said the collapse occurred as unauthorized construction work was underway on the building, which could not bear the weight of new concrete floors.
Chief of Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency, Mohammad Syafii, confirmed that 99 people survived the disaster, though many were hospitalized with critical injuries. Nearly 80 students remain under medical care, while 38 others are feared buried under unstable slabs of concrete.
Hundreds of rescue workers, police and soldiers dug through the night, managing to pull eight survivors alive, though weak and injured, from the wreckage. Search operations were briefly halted Tuesday when the collapsed structure shifted dangerously, prompting rescuers and onlookers to flee. Crews later resumed carefully, avoiding heavy machinery to prevent further collapse.
Families gathered at a command post set up inside the school compound, scanning lists of the missing written on a whiteboard. Many broke down in tears. “Oh my God, my son is still buried,” one mother sobbed, while a father clutched the hand of a rescuer, begging, “Please find my child immediately.”
Rescue chief Nanang Sigit said oxygen and water were being funneled into pockets of debris to help sustain those still alive beneath the rubble. “We are working as quickly as possible, but safety is our priority,” he said.
Police spokesperson Jules Abraham Abast said the collapse happened during an expansion project that had not been authorized. “The foundation could not support two additional concrete floors,” he said, adding that female students praying in another section of the building managed to escape unharmed.
Video footage from local broadcaster KompasTV showed families waiting anxiously, some clinging to hope as rescuers continued their search. Officials said the number of dead could rise in the coming hours as operations continue.
Caretaker Abdus Salam Mujib told state news agency Antara that construction work had ended before prayers began, but conceded the foundation was not strong enough to support the added structure. Authorities have launched an investigation into the collapse.
