Indonesian rescuers are scrambling to locate 91 people feared trapped under rubble after an Islamic boarding school collapsed in the province of East Java while dozens were at afternoon prayer, disaster mitigation authorities said.
At least three people were killed and 102 evacuated in Monday’s incident at the Al Khoziny school in the town of Sidoarjo when the unstable building gave way during construction, the disaster mitigation agency said in a statement.
“This sudden occurrence caused building material to fall on dozens of students and workers,” agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said.
A bulldozer was among the heavy equipment he said searchers were using to shift the rubble, while nearly 80 injured were taken to hospital.
Holy Abdullah Arif, 49, wept as he held up a picture on his mobile phone of his nephew Rosi, still listed among the missing. He described his frantic search for the boy in the ruins.
“I ran around screaming, ‘Rosi! Rosi! If you can hear me and can move, get out!’ And then a child was screaming back from the rubble, he was stuck. I thought that was Rosi, so I asked, ‘Are you Rosi?’ and the child said, ‘God, no, help me!'”
Rescuers are hopeful of finding survivors at the Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java. (AP Photo: Trisnadi)
Video images from news channel KompasTV showed families of students clustered around a whiteboard looking at a list of survivors.
The agency said the building’s foundations allegedly could not support the weight of construction on its fourth floor.
Rescuers ran oxygen and water to students trapped in the unstable concrete rubble of the collapsed school building, as they desperately worked to free survivors on Tuesday morning more than 12 hours after the structure fell.
Rescue workers, police and soldiers digging through the night pulled out eight weak and injured survivors more than eight hours after the collapse.
Rescue personnel inspect the collapsed building at Sidoarjo in Indonesia’s East Java province. (AFP: Juni Kriswanto)
Efforts were temporarily suspended at 10:15am local time as the collapsed concrete shook suddenly, indicating another collapse could be imminent.Â
People immediately ran for their lives, some screaming, as rescuers urged everyone in the area to avoid the building.
Those fleeing included more than a dozens of ambulances that parked near the scene.
Rescuers ‘focused on saving survivors’
Families of the students gathered at hospitals, or near the collapsed building, anxiously awaiting news of their children.
Relatives wailed as they watched rescuers pull a dusty, injured student from the buried prayer hall.
The school building collapse left dozens of people missing. (Reuters: Dipta Wahyu)
“Oh my God… my son is still buried, oh my God please help!” a mother cried upon seeing her child’s name on a board listing missing students.
“Please, sir, please find my child immediately,” cried a father, holding the hand of one of the rescue team members.
Heavy slabs of concrete and other rubble and unstable parts of the building hampered search and rescue efforts, said Nanang Sigit, a search and rescue officer leading the effort.
“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,” Mr Sigit said.
He said that rescuers saw several bodies under the rubble but were focused on saving those who were still alive.
Several hundred rescuers were involved in the efforts and had equipment for breathing, extrication, medical evacuation and other support tools.
Reuters/AP