Rescue efforts are continuing in East Java after a building at an Islamic boarding school collapsed, leaving three people dead and 91 missing, according to authorities. The incident occurred at the Al Khoziny school in Sidoarjo, around 780km east of Jakarta.
The building, which was under construction on its upper floors, collapsed as pupils held late-afternoon prayers in a mosque on the lower floor. Ninety-nine children and staff are known to have survived, with 26 of the injured still being treated in local hospitals.
Parents have been gathering at the site, searching for their children on a list of known survivors. One uncle, Holy Abdullah Arif, described his frantic search for his nephew Rosi, who remains missing. He recounted hearing a child calling from the rubble, but it was not Rosi.
An excavator and crane have been deployed, but officials are cautious about using heavy equipment for fear of causing further collapse. A local search and rescue official, Nanang Sigit, said that rescuers are still searching for 91 people.
The national disaster mitigation agency suggested that the building's foundations may not have been able to support the weight of construction on the fourth floor. A school caretaker, Abdus Salam Mujib, told the Antara state news agency that building work had ended for the day before prayers, but the foundations could not support the construction above.
