At least three students have been k!lled and dozens are missing following the collapse of an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia’s East Java province, authorities have said.
National Search and Rescue Agency head Mohammad Syafii said as of 12.30pm (0530 GMT) on Tuesday, “the number of victims is 102 people, consisting of 99 survivors, 3 deaths”.
Rescuers are searching for 38 people believed to be trapped under the rubble following the building collapse, the National Agency for Disaster Management said.
Eleven people have been rescued from the rubble, and 91 others managed to escape, the disaster management agency said.
Seventy-seven victims were taken to several hospitals in the area for treatment for their injuries, according to the agency.
“Efforts to assess the site, monitor the remaining building structure, and prepare evacuation routes for victims are the primary focus of the teams on the ground,” the agency said in a statement on social media.
The agency added that the incident called attention to the need for the “strict implementation of construction safety standards”.
“The public and managers of multistorey buildings are urged to ensure technical supervision during construction to prevent similar occurrences in the future,” it said.
Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency, a separate body, had earlier reported that “provisional data” indicated that 100 students were caught up in the collapse, of whom all but one had been located alive.
Authorities say the school’s foundation pillars gave way as crews were concreting the fourth floor of the building, trapping dozens of people under debris.
The incident is the second building collapse in Indonesia in less than a month.
