Sidulho, Indonesia (AP) – Buildings under construction at Islamic boarding school Indonesia Dozens of prayer students collapsed on Monday, killing at least one person, wounding dozens, and buried others in the tile rub.
Police, soldiers and rescuers dug into the debris in the middle of the night, finding additional students, and pulling out eight weak survivors more than eight hours after collapsed at the Arkozyni Islamic Boarding School in the East Java The town of Sidolho. Rescuers also say they saw additional bodies, indicating that deaths are likely to rise.
Local police spokesman Jules Abraham Avast said the students were praying for the afternoon in a building that had been subjected to fraudulent expansion when it suddenly collapsed over them.
One male student has been killed, 99 other students injured, and was taken to hospital, some of whom were taken in critical condition, officials said.
Survivors said that female students were able to pray separately in different parts of the building and escape, so most of the victims were male. Residents, teachers and administrators assisted the injured student. Many suffered from head injuries and fractures.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the building collapse.
Abast said the old prayer hall originally only had two stories, but was renovated with the addition of two more floors without permission to build the new structure.
“The foundations of the old building were clearly unable to support the concrete on the second floor and collapsed during the injection process,” Abast said.
TV reports show dozens of rescuers, police and soldiers searched for survivors in a one-night rescue effort supported by heavy machinery, desperately digging into concrete fragments of reinforced concrete.
The students’ families gathered near hospitals and collapsed buildings, waiting worriedly for the news of their children. The relatives cried out as rescuers pulled the injured student who had been slaughtered from the burial hall.
The heavy slabs of concrete and other tiled rubs and unstable parts of the building have hindered search and rescue efforts, Nanan Sigit said.
“We keep them alive while we work hard to run oxygen and water on those still trapped under the debris and drive them out,” Sigitt said. He added that rescuers saw several bodies scattered underneath the tiled rub, but they focused on saving those who were still alive.
Hundreds of rescuers, including self-contained breathing devices with escapes, medical evacuations and other rescue operation aid equipment, continue their search in non-stop operations under the tiled ble of a devastated building for the body and, wherever possible, for survivors.
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Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. Jakarta Associated Press Writer Edna Taligan contributed to this report.
