Journalism of Courage
The death toll from the collapse of a school building in Sidoarjo, on Indonesia’s eastern Java island, rose to 14 on Friday as recovery teams pulled more bodies from the rubble, the Associated Press (AP) reported. Dozens of students remain unaccounted for, and authorities expect the toll to climb further.
The structure, part of the century-old Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school, fell on Monday during prayers in the school’s hall, trapping hundreds of students beneath debris.
The building had two stories, but an additional two floors were being added without proper permits. Officials said, according to AP, that the original foundation could not support the extra concrete floors, leading to the collapse.
Initially, crews searched manually for survivors. By Thursday, with no signs of life detected, they switched to heavy excavators and jackhammers to accelerate recovery.
On Friday, nine more bodies were recovered, bringing the confirmed death toll to 14, with nearly 50 students still missing, reported AP.
Two of the bodies found Friday were in the prayer hall, while one was near an exit, suggesting the student had been trying to escape, said Suharyanto, head of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency.
Thirteen-year-old Rizalul Qoib, one of 104 survivors, described the moment the building fell. “I stopped praying and fled when I felt the floor shaking,” he said, according to AP. “Suddenly, the building collapsed, and the debris of the roof fell on my head, my face. Then the room went dark, but I heard someone shouting ‘this way, this way’ and I followed the voice until I eventually found a narrow gap in the rubble. I just followed the light.”
Many students who escaped or were rescued suffered severe head injuries and broken bones and are being treated in hospitals.
Crews worked through the hot sun on Friday to break up and remove large slabs of concrete, contending with the grim smell of decomposing bodies beneath. Suharyanto told reporters, as reported by AP, that recovery efforts were expected to conclude by the end of Saturday.
Police and school officials have not yet commented on the collapse.
