On Monday, officials reported that the official death toll from the terrible collapse of an Islamic boarding school building on Indonesia’s Java island had increased to 54. Rescuers are currently working around the clock in the rubble to find more than a dozen people who are still missing.
Last week, while a group of students were praying in the afternoon, the multi-story building abruptly fell down, trapping dozens of people under the rubble.
As of Monday morning, the search and rescue teams had found 54 dead bodies. “We have found 54 dead people, including five body parts,” said Yudhi Bramantyo, the operations director for the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), at a press briefing.
Rescue efforts are getting stronger
Rescue crews are working hard to find people in the ruins of the boarding school. Yudhi Bramantyo, the operations director for Basarnas, said he hoped the recovery process might be finished today. “We hope to finish the recovery today (Monday), and then we will give the bodies back to the families,” he said.
Budi Irawan, the deputy head of Indonesia’s national disaster agency (BNPB), said that this terrible event is the deadliest disaster in the country so far this year. He said that at least 13 persons were still missing under the debris.
The investigation shows that the building was not built well.
Investigators are still officially looking into what caused the building to fall, but early signs from experts suggest that poor building techniques may have been a big part of what happened. Many people in Indonesia are worried about loose building codes and safety, and past events have made this issue even more important. For example, in September, a building that was hosting a prayer recital fell down in West Java, killing at least three people and injuring scores more.
The relatives of the missing people had agreed on Thursday to let heavy equipment be used in the search, knowing that the 72-hour “golden period” for the best chance of survival had passed.