In a devastating development, Indonesian rescuers announced Thursday morning that they had detected no further signs of life from beneath the debris of a collapsed school. After days of frantic efforts to save trapped students, the mission will now concentrate on recovering the bodies of those still missing.
Early Thursday, five additional students were pulled alive from the Al Khoziny school in Sidoarjo, East Java Province, raising the total number of survivors rescued to 14. Tragically, two more bodies were also discovered, bringing the confirmed death toll to five. Officials from the National Disaster Management Agency estimate that 59 students are still entombed within the Islamic boarding school, all now tragically presumed dead. The exact number of students inside the building at the time of the Monday afternoon collapse, which occurred during a prayer service, remains uncertain.
Indonesia is home to over 30,000 Islamic boarding schools, known as pesantren, which often serve children from rural regions, according to the Ministry of Religious Affairs. The Al Khoziny secondary school, established in 1964, served approximately 1,300 students from various parts of the country.
The decision to end the search for survivors came after a 24-hour assessment by the National Search and Rescue Agency, which utilized advanced sound equipment, thermal drones, and wall scans. “We did not detect any signs of life, so the joint team finally decided to enter the next stage, the search and evacuation stage, using heavy equipment,” stated Suharyanto, head of the National Disaster Management Agency, during a press conference. Officials had previously refrained from using heavy machinery, fearing it could further destabilize the structure and endanger any survivors.
With a heavy heart, rescuers sought consent from grieving family members before deploying heavy equipment on Thursday afternoon. DNA samples were also collected from the families to aid in identifying the victims.
Many parents had gathered at the location since Monday, anxiously awaiting news of their children. Ahmad Iksan, 52, was among them, arriving Monday evening after learning of the disaster through a parents’ messaging group. He held onto hope that his 14-year-old son, Arif Afandi, was alive during his hour-long drive from Surabaya. However, his hope turned to despair when he discovered his son was among the missing.
“I’m still hoping my child is safe and will return to us,” Mr. Iksan shared, describing his youngest son as a kind and religious boy, whose older sister had also graduated from the same school years prior.
The boarding school has issued an apology to families, asking for forgiveness and categorizing the collapse as an accident. A joint prayer service for the missing students was held on Thursday morning. Pratikno, the coordinating minister for human development and cultural affairs, extended the government’s condolences and pledged to collaborate with the Ministry of Religious Affairs to re-evaluate regulations for Islamic boarding schools. “We will also coordinate with the Minister of Infrastructure to ensure that disasters like this won’t happen again,” Mr. Pratikno stated.
Officials attributed the building’s collapse to “technological failure.” The school had been undergoing construction to add a fourth floor, and workers were reportedly pouring concrete on the top floor when its support pillars gave way. This caused the upper section of the structure to crash onto a lower floor, where students were engaged in prayer.
