Tragedy struck in East Java, Indonesia, after part of an Islamic boarding school collapsed on Monday afternoon, killing three students and leaving many others unaccounted for.
The incident happened at the Al-Khoziny Islamic Boarding School in Sidoarjo while students were gathering for afternoon prayers. Authorities say the building gave way as workers poured concrete on its fourth floor, causing the pillars beneath to fail.
By Tuesday, the National Search and Rescue Agency had confirmed that 102 people were caught up in the collapse. Agency head Mohammad Syafii said, “the number of victims is 102 people, consisting of 99 survivors, 3 deaths.”
Rescue teams have pulled 11 people from the rubble while 91 others escaped on their own. However, 38 more are still believed to be trapped, and 77 survivors have been taken to hospitals across the district for treatment.
The country’s disaster management agency, in a statement, emphasized that the immediate focus is on safety and recovery. The agency further noted that the tragedy underlines the importance of the “strict implementation of construction safety standards.”
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“Efforts to assess the site, monitor the remaining building structure, and prepare evacuation routes for victims are the primary focus of the teams on the ground,” it said.
Families of the trapped, many of them parents of teenage boys, kept vigil near the site as emergency workers sifted through debris and concrete slabs in hopes of finding survivors.
This collapse is the second in less than a month. On September 3, a community hall in West Java’s Bogor district caved in during a Quran recital, leaving three people dead and dozens injured.
Source: ameyawdebrah.com/
