Rescue workers in Indonesia on Friday pulled more bodies from the wreckage of a collapsed school building, with dozens of students still missing and fears that the death toll will continue to rise.
The school building, which was undergoing renovation, crumbled on Monday in Sidoarjo, East Java, trapping hundreds of people gathered in a prayer hall at the al Khoziny Islamic boarding school, an institution more than a century old.
Rescuers had initially used bare hands and simple tools to search for survivors, but by Thursday—after detecting no further signs of life—they deployed heavy machinery fitted with jackhammers to speed up the recovery process.
By Friday evening, five more bodies were recovered, bringing the confirmed death toll to 10. Authorities said more than 50 students remained unaccounted for.
Most of those trapped were boys aged 12 to 19, attending grades seven through 12. Female students, who had been praying in a different section of the school, managed to escape unharmed.
One survivor, 13-year-old Rizalul Qoib, returned to view the rubble of his school. He described hearing what sounded like falling rocks as the floor shook. “I stopped praying and ran,” he said. A slab hit his head, but he managed to crawl through a gap in the debris, guided by a voice and a shaft of light.
Dozens of others survived with serious injuries, including broken bones and head wounds, and remain hospitalized.
Officials said two of the bodies recovered Friday were found inside the prayer hall, while another appeared to be near an exit, as though trying to flee.
Authorities confirmed the building had only been designed for two floors, but school administrators had started adding two more levels illegally. Police believe the old foundation collapsed under the weight of newly poured concrete.
School officials have not commented publicly.
On Friday, rescue crews continued to work under the scorching sun, breaking apart massive slabs of concrete as the odor of decomposing bodies lingered.
Indonesia’s disaster agency chief Suharyanto said recovery efforts should be completed by Saturday.