Sidoarjo, Indonesia, Sept. 30 — Rescuers battled through unstable debris on Tuesday morning to free students trapped beneath a collapsed school building in East Java, where one boy was confirmed dead, at least 99 were injured, and 65 remained missing.
The Al Khoziny Islamic Boarding School in Sidoarjo crumbled Monday evening while students were performing afternoon prayers. The collapse buried dozens of pupils, most of them boys aged 12 to 17, under concrete slabs from the prayer hall, officials said.
“We have been running oxygen and water to those still trapped under the debris and keeping them alive while we work hard to get them out,” said Nanang Sigit, a search and rescue officer leading the effort. He confirmed that rescuers had seen several bodies but were prioritizing survivors.
Teams of police, soldiers, and volunteers worked overnight with hand tools to avoid triggering further collapse. Heavy machinery was on standby but not deployed because of safety concerns. Eight students were pulled out alive after more than eight hours under rubble, many with head injuries and broken bones.
The atmosphere was tense outside the school complex, where a command post displayed a list of missing students. Families broke down as they read names. “Oh my God… my son is still buried, oh my God please help!” cried one mother. A father, clutching a rescuer’s hand, pleaded: “Please, sir, please find my child immediately.”
Officials said female students, who had been praying in another section, managed to escape. The collapse killed a 13-year-old boy and injured nearly 100 others, some critically.
Provincial police spokesperson Jules Abraham Abast said the building was undergoing an unauthorized expansion. Originally a two-story hall, workers had begun adding two additional floors without permits. “The old building’s foundation was apparently unable to support two floors of concrete and collapsed during the pouring process,” Abast noted.
More than 300 rescuers equipped with breathing gear, medical evacuation kits and extrication tools continued the search Tuesday, even as parts of the structure remained dangerously unstable. Authorities have opened an investigation into the collapse.
