Indonesia: Scores of kids still missing after boarding school in East Java collapses

About 91 people are believed to be still trapped under the ruins of a collapsed school on Indonesia’s main island of Java, as rescue teams battle a race against time in a frantic search for survivors.

The multi-storey Islamic boarding school in the town of Sidoarjo, out 780km east of Jakarta, suddenly gave way on Monday as students were gathered for afternoon prayers.

National Disaster and Mitigation Agency said at least six people were till alive under the rubble, where they have been trapped for two days. Officially, the number of deaths stands at three and nearly 100 injuries, although the figures do not count those trapped.

“Rescue efforts are currently being carried out manually by digging holes and openings to evacuate survivors,” BNPB said on social media.

“The joint (search and rescue) team has detected signs of six people still alive in one section of the collapse. Through existing gaps, rescuers have managed to deliver food and water to sustain the victims.”

“If the assessment concludes there are no more survivors, the next phase will involve the use of heavy equipment to recover deceased victims still trapped.”

Officials said today they were still trying to confirm the number of missing.

Rescue teams were focusing on supplying life support to survivors trapped under the rubble, said Emi Freezer, the National Search and Rescue Agency’s head of operations.

They were concentrating on seven areas were signs of life had been detected, he said.

“The main structure has totally collapsed. We prioritised saving victims who were still responsive,” he said.

Mohammad Syafii, head of the agency, said they wanted to complete the rescue quickly.

“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,” he said at the news conference

Dozens of parents waited near the collapsed school building as rescue teams searched for survivors.

Qoyyimah, a 42-year-old mother who like many Indonesians goes by one name, was in tears outside the flattened boarding school, desperate for news of her 15-year-son.

“I first heard about the collapse from my relatives who live around here. I was shocked,” said the woman from the nearby island of Madura.

Being away, “I couldn’t do anything,” she told AFP. “I couldn’t take it anymore, I couldn’t just wait for updates, I was restless and I had to see it for myself,” said Qoyyimah.

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

“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!’.”

Families clustered around a whiteboard with a list of the known survivors, searching for names of their children.

Local media reports quoted a school official as saying construction work had been ongoing for the past nine months. The building collapsed after its pillars failed to support the new construction on the fourth floor of the school, according to the national disaster management agency’s spokesman Abdul Muhari.

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

The prayer hall was two stories high but two more were being added without a permit, according to authorities

Lax construction standards have raised widespread concerns about building safety in Indonesia, where it is common to leave structures partially completed, allowing owners to add extra floors later when their budgets permit.

Earlier this month, at least three people were killed and dozens injured when a building hosting a prayer recital collapsed in West Java province.