Rescue teams in Indonesia are pushing through a seventh day of desperate searching. They dig through the rubble of a collapsed religious school. The death toll from the disaster has now climbed to 36 students.
This number marks a sharp rise from the 16 deaths reported just a day earlier. Hope is fading for the 27 students still missing. Most are teenage boys, aged 13 to 19. They remain trapped beneath the fallen building.
The tragedy struck the Al-Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo City, East Java province. It happened last Monday, September 29th. Hundreds of students were gathered for their afternoon prayers when the building suddenly gave way. Investigators believe the collapse was due to the building’s foundation. It simply couldn’t support the extra weight from ongoing construction work on the upper floors.
Large cranes are now tearing through the wreckage, helping move heavy debris. Officials say about 60% of the search and clearing operation is done. They hope to finish the entire search by next Monday. Earlier, rescuers got special permission from parents to use the big machines. This decision came after tunneling and motion sensor checks found no signs of life.
Al-Khoziny is known as a “pesantren,” which is a traditional Islamic boarding school. Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population. The Ministry of Religious Affairs states that the country has about 42,000 such schools. These institutions teach roughly 7 million students across the nation.
Source: Reuters