The death toll from last week’s collapse of an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia’s East Java province has risen to at least 50, officials said on Monday, as rescuers neared completion of their search for the remaining 13 missing victims in what has become the country’s deadliest disaster of 2025.
The tragedy struck the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in the town of Sidoarjo, when large sections of the building suddenly caved in on hundreds of mostly teenage boys.
Piles of heavy concrete and steel collapsed onto the dormitories, trapping many students inside.
By late Sunday, rescue teams had cleared about 80% of the debris using excavators and recovered dozens of bodies and body parts, according to Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB).
“A total of 50 people have died based on the bodies recovered,” said Budi Irawan, a BNPB deputy, during a press conference. “Out of all the disasters this year, natural or not, there hasn’t been one with as many victims as the one in Sidoarjo.”
Yudhi Bramantyo, an official with the national search and rescue agency, said at least five separate body parts were also found, suggesting the final death toll could rise to 54 once identification is complete.
Footage released by the agency showed recovery workers in protective gear carrying orange body bags through the school’s ruins, while grieving families waited nearby for news of their missing children.
Authorities believe the collapse was caused by unauthorized construction work on the upper floors, which the building’s foundations were too weak to support.
Indonesia’s Public Works Minister, Dody Hanggodo, said only 50 of the country’s 42,000 Islamic schools (pesantren) currently possess valid building permits, a figure that has sparked widespread concern over safety standards.
It remains unclear whether the Al Khoziny school had obtained the required permits. Efforts by Reuters to reach school officials for comment were unsuccessful.
Rescuers are expected to finish searching through the rubble by the end of Monday, as the nation mourns the victims of one of its worst structural disasters in recent years.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
