65 Feared Trapped, At Least 1 Dead In Indonesia School Building Collapse

(MENAFN- Live Mint) At least 65 students are presumed buried under rubble after an Islamic school building collapsed in Indonesia , AP has repoted.

The incident occured in the East Java town of Sidoarjo. AP quoted rescuers saying that the body of a person who died in the collapse has been recovered, while they fear the death toll is likely to rise.

Students were performing afternoon prayers in the school building, which was undergoing an unauthorise expansion, when it suddenly collapsed on them, the publication quoted a local police spokesperson as saying.

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99 injured students have been taken to hospitals so far.

Most of the victims were male, because female students were praying separately in another part of the building and managed to escape, survivors said. Residents, teachers and administrators assisted injured students, many with head injuries and broken bones.

Authorities launched an investigation into the cause of the building's collapse.

The police spokesperson 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.

Rescue measures

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.

“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 told the publication, adding that rescuers saw several bodies scattered under the rubble, but that they focused on saving those who were still alive.

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Several hundreds of rescuers, including self-contained breathing apparatus equipped with extrication, medical evacuation and other rescue operation support equipment, continue to search in a non-stop operation under the rubble of devastated building for bodies, and whenever possible survivors.

Families gather at hospitals

A relative of a victim of a collapsed building reacts, after a hall collapsed while students were praying at the Al-Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia, September 30, 2025. REUTERS/Dipta Wahyu TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Families of the students gathered at hospitals or 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.

With AP inputs

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