Indonesia School Collapse: 1 Dead, Dozens Trapped

By Staff, Agencies

At least one student died, dozens were injured, and 65 remain trapped after a school building collapsed in Indonesia Monday. Rescuers are providing oxygen and water to those still trapped.

Rescue workers, police and soldiers digging through the night pulled out eight weak and injured survivors hours after the building at Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in the East Java town of Sidoarjo collapsed while students were praying.

Rescuers saw additional bodies, indicating the death toll was likely to rise.

Families waited anxiously near the collapsed school and hospitals, some weeping as rescuers pulled injured children from the rubble.

A noticeboard at the command post set up in the boarding school complex listed 65 students as missing as of Tuesday morning. They were mostly boys in grades seven to 11, between the ages of 12 and 17.

“Oh my God … my son is still buried, oh my God please help!” a mother cried hysterically upon seeing her child’s name on the board, followed by the cries of other parents whose relatives had suffered a similar fate.

“Please, sir, please find my child immediately,” cried a father, holding the hand of one of the rescue team members.

Rescue efforts were slowed by unstable debris, said search leader Nanang Sigit. Heavy machinery was on hand but unused to avoid triggering further collapse.

“We’re providing oxygen and water to those trapped and working hard to rescue them,” Sigit said, noting that while bodies were seen under the rubble, the focus remains on saving the living.

Several hundred rescuers were involved in the effort and had equipment for breathing, extrication, medical evacuation and other support tools.

The students were praying in a building undergoing unauthorized expansion when it suddenly collapsed, said provincial police spokesperson Jules Abraham Abast.

Residents, teachers and administrators assisted injured students, many with head injuries and broken bones. Female students were praying in another part of the building and managed to escape, survivors said.

One male student, a 13-year-old boy, was killed and 99 other students were injured and taken to hospitals, some of them in critical condition, officials said.

Authorities were investigating the cause of the collapse. Abast said the old prayer hall was two stories but two more were being added without a permit.

“The old building’s foundation was apparently unable to support two floors of concrete and collapsed during the pouring process,” Abast said.