JAKARTA — The death toll from the collapse of an Islamic boarding school building in Indonesia has climbed to 36, up from 16 a day earlier, according to the country’s disaster mitigation agency on Sunday.
Search and rescue teams continued operations for a seventh consecutive day to locate 27 students still missing, most of them boys aged 13 to 19, who remain trapped beneath the rubble.
Cranes were deployed to remove debris, with the agency reporting that search and evacuation efforts were about 60% complete. Officials expect to clear all debris and complete the operation by Monday.
The tragedy occurred at the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school, or pesantren, in the town of Sidoarjo, East Java province. The building collapsed last Monday during afternoon prayers, reportedly because its foundation could not support ongoing construction work on its upper floors.
After days of fruitless manual efforts, rescuers were granted permission by the victims’ parents on Friday to use heavy machinery. Workers had previously tunneled through debris, calling out the boys’ names and using motion sensors in hopes of finding survivors, but no signs of life were detected.
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, is home to approximately 42,000 pesantren, with a combined student population of around seven million, according to the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Si Venus L Peñaflor ay naging editor-in-chief ng Newsworld, isang lokal na pahayagan ng Laguna. Publisher din siya ng Daystar Gazette at Tutubi News Magazine. Siya ay isa ring pintor at doll face designer ng Ninay Dolls, ang unang Manikang Pilipino. Kasali siya sa DesignCrowd sa rank na #305 sa 640,000 graphic designers sa buong daigdig. Kasama din siya sa unang Local TV Broadcast sa Laguna na Beyond Manila. Aktibong kasapi siya ng San Pablo Jaycees Senate bilang isang JCI Senator.
- Venus L Peñaflor
- Venus L Peñaflor
- Venus L Peñaflor
- Venus L Peñaflor
