SIDULJO, Indonesia (AP) — After a prayer hall collapsed at an Islamic boarding school last week, Indonesian rescuers searching for missing students recovered the bodies of dozens of students over the weekend, bringing 49 confirmed deaths.
Using a jackhammer, a circular saw and sometimes a heavy excavator with bare hands, the rescue team eagerly removed the tile rub as 14 students were reportedly still missing. Rescuers discovered 35 bodies over the weekend alone, the national disaster mitigation measure said.
This structure fell on hundreds of students aged 12 to 19 on September 29 at the century-old Arkoginini School in Sidu Alho, on the eastern side of Java, Indonesia. Authorities say 97 people were released after being treated for various injuries, but only one student escaped unharmed. The other six were seriously injured and remained hospitalized on Sunday.
Police said two levels have been added to the two-storey building without permission, leading to structural breakdowns. This sparked widespread outrage over illegal construction in Indonesia.
“The construction was unable to support the load while the concrete was poured (to build) because the concrete did not meet the standards, as the construction collapsed, 800 square meters (8,600 square feet) of construction.”
Irmawan also said students should not be allowed inside the buildings under construction.
Subandi, the chief of Sidoarjo district, confirmed what police have announced. The school’s management had not applied for the necessary permits before construction began.
“Many buildings, including the traditional boarding school expansion, were built without permission in non-urban areas,” Subandi, who will go under a single name, told the Associated Press on Sunday.
Indonesia’s 2002 Construction Construction Code states that the relevant authorities must issue a permit prior to construction, or the owner faces fines and imprisonment. If the violation causes death, this could lead to a fine of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to 8 billion rupiah (nearly $500,000).
The caretaker of the school is Abdas Salam Mujib, a respected Islamic clergyman in East Java. He offered a public apology the day after the incident, with a rare appearance.
“This is certainly God’s will, so we all have to be patient, and God replaces it with something better.
Criminal investigations involving Muslim clergy remain sensitive in the world’s most populous Muslim countries.
There have been no comments from school officials since the collapse.
“We will investigate this incident in depth,” East Java Police Chief Nanan Aviant said on Sunday. “Our investigation also requires guidance from a team of construction professionals to determine whether negligence caused by the school has resulted in death.”
___
Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.
