Indonesia school collapse leaves one dead, dozens injured and scores trapped

Rescuers in Indonesia are racing against time to save dozens of students feared trapped beneath the rubble of an Islamic boarding school after its under-construction building collapsed during afternoon prayers.

The disaster struck late Monday at the Al Khoziny Islamic Boarding School in Sidoarjo, East Java, where a prayer hall undergoing an unauthorised vertical expansion suddenly gave way.

At least one 13-year-old boy was confirmed dead, while 99 students sustained injuries ranging from head wounds to broken bones, officials said. Dozens remain in critical condition.

A notice board at the school’s temporary command post on Tuesday morning listed 65 students as missing, most of them boys aged between 12 and 17.

Families gathered outside hospitals and the debris-strewn site, anxiously awaiting updates as rescue operations stretched through the night. Distressed parents pleaded with rescue workers for news of their children, some breaking down in tears as the names of the missing were read aloud.

More than 12 hours after the collapse, rescue teams, police officers and soldiers continued to sift through unstable concrete slabs and twisted steel.

Eight survivors were pulled out alive after being trapped for more than eight hours. Search leader Nanang Sigit said oxygen and water were being channelled into pockets beneath the wreckage to keep those still alive from suffocating.

“We are focused on saving lives,” he said, adding that bodies had been spotted but heavy equipment could not be used for fear of triggering further collapse.

Several hundred rescuers equipped with breathing apparatus, medical evacuation kits and cutting tools are involved in the operation. Residents, teachers and school staff have also joined in, helping to carry injured students to waiting ambulances.

Provincial police spokesperson Jules Abraham Abast said the building’s collapse was linked to an illegal extension. The old two-storey prayer hall was being expanded with two additional floors without proper permits, and its foundation was unable to bear the added weight during the pouring of fresh concrete.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the structural failure as frantic efforts continue to locate the missing. Female students, who had been praying in another section of the complex, managed to escape unharmed.

Officials warned that the death toll is likely to rise as rescuers continue to battle dangerous conditions to reach those still buried beneath the debris.

With Agency Inputs