Desk Report:
Madrasa collapses during prayers in Indonesia, 3 students’ bodies recovered, 38 missing
At least three students have died after a madrasa building collapsed in Indonesia’s East Java province, with 38 people still missing.
The head of the country’s National Search and Rescue Agency, Mohammad Safi, said at around 12:30 pm on Tuesday that the number of victims in the building collapse had reached 102.
Al Jazeera reported that the Al-Khojini Islamic Boarding School in Sidoarjo, East Java, collapsed at around 3 pm on Monday. Students were gathering for prayers at the time.
Authorities said that the foundation of the madrasa collapsed while welding was being carried out on the fourth floor of the building; as a result, many people were trapped under the rubble.
The National Disaster Management Agency said that 38 people are believed to be trapped under the rubble after the building collapsed and rescue workers are searching for them. 11 people have been rescued from the rubble and the remaining 91 managed to escape.
The agency added that 77 injured people were taken to various hospitals in the area for treatment.
In a statement on social media, the agency said that the main focus of the teams on the ground at the moment is to monitor the scene, monitor the remaining structures and prepare rescue routes for the victims.
The National Search and Rescue Agency said yesterday that according to initial information, 100 students were killed in the collapse; all but one of them were found alive.
The incident is the second building collapse in Indonesia in less than a month.
Officials said that at least three people were killed and several others were injured when a community hall collapsed during a Quran recitation ceremony in Bogor district, West Java, on September 3.
