Rescuers search for survivors of a collapsed building at an Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia, on Tuesday. Photo by Fully Handoko/EPA
An Islamic boarding school in East Java, Indonesia, collapsed Tuesday, trapping dozens of students and killing at least three, emergency officials.
Nanang Sigit, who runs the East Java office of the National Search and Rescue Agency, told The New York Times that rescuers have found 11 students. At least 30 remained in the rubble, where rescuers and bystanders could hear screaming and crying from those trapped.
Gatot Subroto, head of East Java’s disaster management organization, told the Times that about 100 students had been transported to a local hospital. Some were in critical condition.
Work to clear the rubble and rescue those trapped at the Al-Khoziny Islamic Boarding School was temporarily paused because the ruins of the building became unstable, East Java police official Nanang Avianto told the BBC.
Officials have yet to say the exact cause of the collapse, but Nanang Sigit told the Times that construction workers were pouring concrete on the top floor when pillars gave way. This caused the upper part of the building to come crashing down on students who were praying below.
Subandi, the regent of Sidoarjo, the town where the school was located, told local news outlet, Kompas TV, that the school didn’t have a permit for the expansion.
“The construction was not up to standard,” he said. “So the whole thing collapsed.
