Rescuers search for survivors after a building collapsed at an Islamic boarding school, in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia. (AP Photo) In a tragic incident reported from Indonesia, an under construction building at an Islamic boarding school collapsed on dozens of students who were praying at the moment on Monday, killing at least one and injuring dozens while several others got buried in the rubble, Associated Press reported.
Police, soldiers and rescue personnel were deployed on the site of the incident and they dug up the debris throughout the night to recover additional students, and pulled out eight weak and injured survivors from beneath the collapsed building’s rubble after an operation that lasted for about eight hours.
The incident took place at the Al Khoziny Islamic Boarding School in the east Java town of Sidorajo in Indonesia. Rescuers further informed that they witnessed additional bodies beneath the rubble, indicating that the death toll is likely to rise, AP reported.
According to a provincial police spokesperson Jules Abraham Abast, school students were performing afternoon prayers in a building that was undergoing an “unauthorized expansion” when it suddenly collapsed on the students.
Officials informed that a male student had died in the collapse, while at least 99 other students were wounded and taken to a hospital with some of them being reported in a critical condition.
Survivors said that most of the victims include male students as female students were praying separately in another part of the building and managed to escape when the collapse occurred.
“The old building’s foundation was apparently unable to support two floors of concrete and collapsed during the pouring process,” police spokesperson Abast said.
(with inputs from AP)
