Catastrophe in Southeast Asia: Educational Building Collapse Death Toll Increases to 14, Dozens Unaccounted For
The number of fatalities from a catastrophic structural failure at an educational institution in Indonesia climbed to 14 on Friday as emergency crews pulled multiple victims from beneath the rubble. Dozens of students remain unaccounted for and the death toll is expected to rise.
Search Operations Ramp Up as Hope Fades
Initially, rescuers searched by hand for survivors after the building caved in on Monday. However, after no more detections of survivors detected by Thursday, they began using large machinery equipped with jackhammers to help them progress more rapidly.
Emergency workers worked in the hot sun on Friday to demolish and remove large slabs of concrete, with the smell of the deceased a somber reminder of what they would find underneath.
By the end of the day, they had recovered nine victims, raising the confirmed death toll to 14, with approximately 50 students still unaccounted for.
Specifics of the Collapse
The structure fell on top of many of people on Monday in a worship area at the historic Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo in East Java, about 780km (480 miles) to the east of Jakarta.
The chief of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency, Suharyanto, told reporters at the site on Friday that the retrieval operation were expected to be finished by the end of Saturday.
The students were primarily boys in grades seven to 12, between 12 and 19 years old. Girls were praying in another part of the building and were able to get out safely, survivors said.
Survivor Account: Narrow Survival from the Debris
Thirteen-year-old Rizalul Qoib, one of 104 those who escaped, came back to the scene on Friday to see what was remaining of his school, and said he was lucky to have escaped with only a small cut to his head.
He said, like the others, he had been praying when he heard something similar to the sound of crumbling material, which got louder and louder.
“I ceased my prayers and ran when I felt the floor trembling,” he remembered. “Suddenly the building collapsed, the debris of the roof landed on my head, my face.”
Then the room went dark, but he heard someone yelling, “this way, follow me” and he followed the voice until he finally found a narrow gap in the rubble.
“I just followed the light,” Qoib said.
A significant number of the other individuals who were hurt but escaped or were saved suffered serious head trauma and broken bones, and are continuing to receive care in the medical facility.
Cause of the Disaster
Authorities have said the structure was two floors, but an additional two stories were under construction without a permit. Police said the old building’s foundation seemingly was could not bear the extra floors and failed during the pouring process.
School officials have so far declined to speak.
