3 Students Dead and 38 Trapped After Boarding School Collapses

A devastating tragedy has struck Indonesia after the collapse of a school building left three students dead and dozens more feared trapped beneath the rubble.

The disaster occurred on Monday, September 29, at the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, a town on the island of Java. According to Reuters, the BBC, and Sky News, the building gave way during afternoon prayers, sending concrete and debris crashing down on students. Nearly 100 people were rushed to local hospitals, while 38 remain missing and are believed to still be buried under the wreckage.

Rescue officials say many of those unaccounted for are boys between the ages of 12 and 17. Female students, who had been praying in another section of the school, were able to escape. Among the dead is a 13-year-old boy. In total, 102 people were evacuated from the site.

The collapse reportedly happened during unauthorized construction work at the facility. Police and government officials revealed the building’s foundations were too weak to handle the addition of two extra floors. “The construction was not up to standard… so the whole thing collapsed,” one official told Kompas TV. Abdul Muhari of Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency added that falling building material buried dozens of students and workers in an instant.

Amid the chaos, student Muhammad Rijalul Qoib, 13, recalled how the ceiling began to crumble mid-prayer. “It got louder and louder,” he said, while another survivor described scenes of “broken bones” and chaos. Rescuers working through the night reported hearing cries and shouting beneath the rubble. “There was one who could still communicate, so we supplied oxygen and also provided drinks and food,” rescue coordinator Nanang Sigit said. Teams have been running oxygen and water through narrow gaps to keep survivors alive.

On Tuesday, efforts briefly halted after unstable parts of the wreckage shifted, raising fears of a secondary collapse. Families waiting outside the site were left in anguish. “Oh my God… my son is still buried, oh my God please help,” one mother sobbed, while another father pleaded with rescue workers: “Please, sir, please find my child immediately.”

Authorities are continuing their desperate search for survivors as grief and anger grow over what many see as a preventable tragedy.