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Families in Tears as Children Feared Trapped After School Collapse in Indonesia
Parents broke down in anguish on Tuesday as they searched for missing children feared trapped beneath the rubble of an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia that collapsed while students were inside praying.
Officials said 91 people were reported missing after the Al Khozini school building gave way during late afternoon prayers in a mosque on the ground floor of the under-construction facility.
The boarding school is located in Sidoarjo, East Java, about 780 km (480 miles) east of Jakarta. By late evening, rescuers had recovered three bodies, while many remained buried under massive concrete slabs. Ninety-nine children and staff managed to escape.
Abdullah Arif, 49, broke down as he held up a photo of his nephew, Rosi, who is still among the missing. He recounted his frantic search through the debris.
“I ran around shouting, ‘Rosi! Rosi! If you can hear me and can move, get out!’ Suddenly, a child cried out from the rubble. I thought it was Rosi and asked, ‘Are you Rosi?’ The boy replied, ‘Oh God, no, please help me!’”
Families crowded around a whiteboard listing the names of known survivors, desperately scanning for their children.
Excavators and a crane were deployed to help remove debris, but Nanang Sigit, a local search and rescue official, said heavy equipment would not be used due to fears that the remaining structure could collapse further.
Disaster mitigation agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari told Reuters that rescue teams were “still searching for 91 people,” adding that 26 injured survivors were being treated in local hospitals.
The agency suggested the building’s foundations may have been unable to withstand the weight of the construction on the fourth floor.
According to state news agency Antara, school caretaker Abdus Salam Mujib said construction had only been completed the day before the prayers, but the foundations could not support the upper floors.
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