Buried hopes: Search and rescue operations being conducted for victims in the rubble of the collapsed school hall at the Al-Khoziny Islamic boarding school, in Sidoarjo, East Java province. — Reuters
The death toll from a school collapse rose to at least 45, officials said, as rescuers recovered more victims buried under the rubble.
Part of the multi-storey building on Indonesia’s Java island collapsed suddenly last Monday as students gathered for afternoon prayers.
Rescuers retrieved another 19 victims from the rubble yesterday, National Search and Rescue Agency operations director Yudhi Bramantyo said.
“According to our calculation, the total number of victims we have evacuated are 149, with 45 reported dead... and 104 survivors,” Yudhi told reporters yesterday, up from a toll of 37 earlier yesterday and including several body parts.
Nanang Sigit, the head of the local search and rescue agency, confirmed the same death toll.
Yudhi said before the latest bodies were found yesterday that at least 26 people were still missing.
Rescuers were still working around the clock in the rubble of the Islamic boarding school.
“We will continue to do our best,” he said.
“In other words, we will probably extend the operation until we are sure that all victims... have been recovered.”
Yudhi estimated that authorities would be able to clear the rubble by tomorrow.
The recovery operation was around “60%” complete, national disaster agency official Budi Irawan told reporters.
“Our hope is that by tomorrow (today) everything will be levelled and we can determine the approximate number of victims who are in the rubble,” Budi said in a livestreamed news conference. — AFP
