SIDOARJO, Indonesia (AP) — A four-story prayer hall in an Islamic boarding school on Indonesia ’s main island of Java collapsed on dozens of pupils who were praying in it Monday, killing at least one male student, officials said. Numerous other children were hospitalized and some were feared trapped under the rubble.
The collapse happened when hundreds of students were performing afternoon prayers in the under-construction prayer hall at al Khoziny
Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, a town in East Java province, said provincial police spokesperson Jules Abraham Abast.
He said the building collapsed suddenly, killing the male student and 79 other students were taken to two nearby hospitals, some in critical condition.
Survivors said most of the victims were male students, as females were praying separately in another part of the building. They managed to escape from the building.
Residents, teachers and administrators assisted survivors, mostly injured children, many with head injuries and broken bones.
Authorities began investigating the cause of the building's collapse. Abast said the old prayer hall was originally only two stories but had been renovated by adding two more floors without a permit to build a new structure.
“The old building’s foundation was apparently unable to support two floors of concrete and collapsed during the pouring process,” Abast said.
Television reports showed dozens of rescue workers, police and soldiers desperately digging through steel reinforced concrete debris in search of survivors in overnight rescue operations, supported by heavy equipment.
Grieving families of the students gathered near the collapsed building, anxiously awaiting news of their children. Relatives wailed as they watched rescuers pull a dusty, injured student from a buried hall.
Heavy slabs of concrete and other rubble and unstable parts of the building hampered search and rescue efforts, said Nanang Sigit, who led the effort.
By Monday evening, rescuers were able to pull four injured students from the debris, bringing the total number of injured people to 83. They were still trying to rescue three children who were alive but trapped under the rubble.
“We have been running oxygen and water to those still trapped under the debris and keeping them alive while we work hard to get them out,” Sigit said, adding that rescuers saw several bodies scattered under the rubble, but they focused on saving those who were still alive.
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Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. Associated Press writer Edna Tarigan in Jakarta contributed.
