The confirmed death toll from the collapse of the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia, has risen to 36, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said Sunday. Rescue workers are still searching for 27 students, most of them boys aged between 13 and 19, believed to be trapped under the debris.
The collapse occurred last Monday during afternoon prayers. The building’s foundation reportedly failed while construction was ongoing on upper levels, causing the structure to cave in on the hundreds of students inside.
Search and rescue operations entered their seventh day, with crews completing about 60 percent of debris clearing. Heavy machinery, including cranes, have been brought in after previous efforts yielded no signs of life.
Authorities had earlier refrained from using large equipment for fear of further collapse, but after obtaining parental consent, the machines were deployed to speed up body recovery.
Al Khoziny is one among Indonesia’s many Islamic boarding schools (known locally as pesantren), institutions that educate millions of students across the country.