Monday 06 / October / 2025
Jakarta: The death toll from the collapse of a school building in Indonesia last week has risen to at least 50, rescue officials said on Monday.
A part of the building of the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in East Java's Sidoarjo town caved in on students — mostly teenage boys — who had gathered for afternoon prayers.
Meanwhile, the search for 13 more missing people is still ongoing.
Late on Sunday, rescuers retrieved bodies and body parts of the victims as they used excavators to clear 80% of the debris.
Yudhi Bramantyo, an official from the search and rescue agency, said that five more body parts had been found, suggesting that the death toll is likely to be at least 54.
Visuals shared by the search and rescue agency showed rescuers carrying orange body bags out of the rubble of the school.
"The number of victims is the biggest this year from one building," Budi Irawan, a deputy at the disaster mitigation agency, told reporters at a briefing.
"Out of all the disasters in 2025, natural or not, there hasn't been as many dead victims as the ones in Sidoarjo," he added.
A probe to determine the cause of the collapse is underway. According to experts, initial indications suggest that poor construction quality may have contributed to the incident.
