Indonesia Ends Search at Collapsed Islamic Boarding School as Death Toll Tops 60

Authorities in Indonesia have officially ended rescue operations at a collapsed Islamic boarding school in East Java after retrieving the bodies of more than 60 victims, making it the country’s deadliest disaster this year.

The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) said on Tuesday that efforts at the al-Khoziny pesantren in Sidoarjo have concluded after nine days of operations.

“We have cleared the debris and confirmed there are no further bodies at the site,” Basarnas chief Mohammad Syafii told reporters.

Parts of the three-storey school building caved in on September 29, while students were attending afternoon prayers.

Dozens killed, few identified

Basarnas said 61 bodies and seven body parts were recovered, though unconfirmed reports place the death toll closer to 67.
Only 17 victims have so far been identified, according to police disaster-identification teams.

Severed limbs were among the remains found, said Budi Irawan, deputy head of the National Disaster Agency. More than 100 people survived, according to operations director Yudhi Bramantyo.

Families of the missing agreed last week to allow heavy machinery to clear the wreckage after the critical 72-hour “golden period” for survival had passed.

Search effort ends, questions remain

Rescue teams had spent days tunnelling through debris and calling out for survivors. One of the last people found alive was 13-year-old Selendra Haikal Rakaditya, pulled from the rubble 72 hours after the collapse.

Investigators are now focusing on poor construction and unapproved renovations as likely causes. Local officials confirmed that work on an unauthorised extension was under way when the building failed.

“Substandard materials and illegal construction practices appear to be central factors,” a structural-engineering team from Surabaya’s Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology said in a preliminary assessment.

Building safety concerns

Indonesia has more than 42,000 Islamic boarding schools, or pesantren, but only about 50 possess official building permits, according to the Ministry of Public Works, highlighting chronic safety oversight in the sector.