Indonesian rescuers race to find dozens of students in rubble of collapsed school

SIDOARJO, Indonesia — Rescue workers continued to search Wednesday for dozens of missing students believed to be buried under the rubble of a collapsed school in the province of East Java.

The death toll after the incident on Monday has risen to six, according to Yudhi Bramantyo, deputy chief of operations of the National Search and Rescue Agency.

Five survivors were rescued after a tunnel was dug at the base of the building to their location.

“Their conditions were better as they were detected yesterday. They can communicate since yesterday while their bodies are covered by concrete. We have been able to provide food and drink support since yesterday,” Bramantyo said.

Rescuers are racing against the clock in the search for other survivors, with dozens of students still unaccounted for, he added.

The structure fell on top of hundreds of people about 2:30 p.m. on Monday in a prayer hall at the century-old al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, on the eastern side of Indonesia’s Java island.

The students were mostly boys in grades seven to 12, ages 12 to 18. Female students were praying in another part of the building and managed to escape, survivors said.

Most rescues typically happen within 24 hours after such disasters, with chances of survival decreasing each day after. More than 300 workers continued to try to reach those who were known to be still alive and trapped below.

“We hope that we can complete this operation soon,” Mohammad Syafii, head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters. “We are currently racing against time because it is possible that we can still save lives of those we have detected within the golden hours.”

In a sign of hope, rescuers pulled one boy out alive on Wednesday afternoon, loading him gently onto a stretcher to be taken to a hospital. His condition was not immediately known.

Of the approximately 100 injured, more than two dozen are still hospitalized, with many said to have suffered head injuries and broken bones, authorities said.

Before Wednesday’s rescue, Syafii’s agency said at least six children were alive under the rubble, but the search has been complicated with the slabs of concrete and other parts of the building remaining unstable. Heavy equipment is available but is not currently being used because of concerns that it could cause further collapse.

Rescuers in hardhats crawled through tight passages made of concrete blocks, steel bars and rubble collapsed in the debris, chipping away at it with hammers and hand-held power tools to try to reach those still underneath.

Oxygen, water and food have been sent through narrow gaps to those trapped under the debris to keep them alive. Search teams have also used detectors and thermal drones to detect potential survivors.

The Islamic boarding school was undergoing an unauthorized expansion to add two new levels when it collapsed during afternoon prayers, authorities said. The prayer hall was two stories high but two more were being added without a permit, according to authorities. Police said the old building’s foundation was apparently unable to support two floors of concrete and collapsed during the pouring process.

Authorities initially said 38 people were missing, but revised that upward on Tuesday after consulting attendance lists and talking with families.

“In the early stages there will inevitably be some confusion about the data,” said Suharyanto, the head of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, who goes by only one name as is common in Indonesia.

Karmini and Tarigan write for the Associated Press. Tarigan reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.