The death toll from the school collapsed in Indonesia last week on 29 September has climbed to at least 50 people as rescuers have cleared nearly all of the debris, rescue authorities said on Monday, in the country's deadliest disaster this year.
Piles of concrete caved in on hundreds of mostly teenage boys at the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in the Indonesian town of Sidoarjo, in East Java province, trapping and killing them.
Late on Sunday, rescuers said they cleared 80% of the debris using excavators and found bodies and body parts of mostly teenage victims, the disaster mitigation agency said in a statement.
Budi Irawan, a deputy at the disaster mitigation agency, said a total of 50 people have died based on the bodies recovered and rescuers were expected to finish their search by the end of Monday for 13 more trapped victims.
"The number of victims is the biggest this year from one building," he told a press conference.
"Out of all the disasters in 2025, natural or not, there hasn't been as many dead victims as the ones in Sidoarjo," Irawan said.
Yudhi Bramantyo, a search and rescue agency official, said at the same news conference that five other body parts were found, indicating the death toll is likely to be at least 54 people.
Rescuers are continuing their search, with footage shared by the search and rescue agency showing recovery workers carrying orange body bags out of the ruins of the school.
Authorities have said the cause of the collapse was construction work on the upper floors that the school's foundations could not support.
Across Indonesia, there are about 42,000 Islamic school buildings, known locally as a pesantren, data from the country's religious affairs ministry shows.
Only 50 pesantren (boarding schools) have building permits, Dody Hanggodo, the country's Public Works Minister, was quoted by local media as saying on Sunday.
It is not immediately clear if Al Khoziny had a building permit.
Reuters could not immediately contact school authorities for comment.
The widening war between Iran, U.S. and Israel is leaving civilians and soldiers caught in its wake. Thousands are stranded across the Gulf, flight...
Kazakhstan has vowed to speed up its investigation into the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) crash near Aktau, as mounti...
Strikes across the Middle East are intensifying, fuelling travel disruption, driving up global energy prices and forcing diplomatic missions ...
Seven opposition parties in Georgia have formed a coordinated alliance ahead of upcoming elections, saying it aims...
China’s top leadership has unveiled a new push to turn advanced technologies into large-scale industrial priorities as part of the country&rs...
Kazakhstan has vowed to speed up its investigation into the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) crash near Aktau, as mounting diplomatic pressure and geopolitical tensions push the disaster further into the international spotlight.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said the United States has a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions and is capable of sustaining military action indefinitely, as the conflict with Iran entered its fourth day.
The United Nations has called for an investigation into a deadly attack on a girls’ primary school in Iran, which Iranian officials say has killed more than 100 children. The U.S. has said its forces “would not” deliberately target a school.
Shahid Motahari Sub-Speciality Hospital in northern Tehran and parts of the Golestan Palace were bombed on day two of the U.S.‑Israel strikes. AnewZ Touraj Shiralilou is in Iran's capital city and said that the facility was flattened in an airstrike.
The Kremlin is utilising the recent United States and Israeli military strikes on Iran to validate its ongoing war in Ukraine. Russian officials are pointing to the escalation in the Middle East as evidence that Western nations do not adhere to international rules.
Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant Saudi Aramco closed its Ras Tanura refinery on Monday following an Iranian drone strike, an industry source told Reuters as Tehran retaliated across the Gulf after a U.S.-Israeli attack on Iranian targets over the weekend.
The Middle East crisis intensifies after the deadly attack on the compound of the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei on Saturday that killed him, other family members and senior figures. Iran has launched retaliatory strikes on U.S. targets in the region.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. military has enough stockpiled weapons to fight wars "forever"; in a social media post late on Monday. The remarks came hours before conflict in Iran and the Middle East entered its fourth day.
Türkiye raised its security level for Turkish-flagged vessels in the Strait of Hormuz to Level 3 on Sunday (2 March). The development follows Iranian restrictions on shipping after U.S. and Israeli strikes and confirmation of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s death.
Strikes across the Middle East are intensifying, fuelling travel disruption, driving up global energy prices and forcing diplomatic missions to shut their doors.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said the United States has a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions and is capable of sustaining military action indefinitely, as the conflict with Iran entered its fourth day.
The United Nations has called for an investigation into a deadly attack on a girls’ primary school in Iran, which Iranian officials say has killed more than 100 children. The U.S. has said its forces “would not” deliberately target a school.
U.S. first lady, Melania Trump chaired a UN Security Council meeting on children and education in conflict on Monday (2 March), a move criticised by Iran as hypocritical following U.S. and Israeli strikes that triggered a UN warning about risks to children.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 3rd of February, covering the latest developments you need to know.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment