Rescuers use heavy machinery as hopes fade of finding school collapse survivors
Indonesian rescue authorities have begun using heavy machinery to move large sections of a collapsed school, with no more signs of life from beneath the rubble and nearly 60 teenage students still unaccounted for.
Government minister Pratikno told reporters on the scene in Sidoarjo that the decision had been made in consultation with the families of those still missing.
Five students were rescued on Wednesday by workers who tunneled into the rubble using only hand tools.
Mr Pratikno said work would proceed with extreme caution even though no more signs of life could be detected.
“In any case, we will be very, very careful when using the heavy machines,” said Mr Pratikno, who uses only one name as is common in Indonesia.
Hundreds of people were in the prayer hall at the century-old al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, on the eastern side of Indonesia’s Java island.
Authorities said the building was two storeys high but two more were being added without a permit. It is thought the foundations could not support the extra concrete and collapsed during the construction process.
Five people have been confirmed dead so far. Of the 105 injured, more than two dozen are still in hospital with head injuries and broken bones.
The students were mostly boys aged 12 to 19 because female students were praying in another part of the building and managed to escape, survivors said.
Nearly 220 workers were on the scene on Thursday with ambulances on hand ready to take any survivors found quickly to the hospital.
“We are no longer considering the possibility of survivors remaining, but we will still proceed with caution, said Suharyanto, the head of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency, who also uses one name.
The numbers of missing have fluctuated over the course of the three-day recovery effort, and Mr Suharyanto conceded that authorities are still not certain how many students may be buried.
“We really hope that these 59 people are not there under the rubble,” he said.
“It happened previously that parents reported their children missing but turned out that their children were somewhere else — I do hope and pray that they are not there.”
Families filled the school’s corridors with mattresses to sleep on, provided by the local government, and were given food, snacks and drinks while they waited for news.
“I can’t give up, I have to believe that my son is still alive, he is a hyperactive boy … he is very strong,” Hafiah, the mother of a 15-year-old named Muhammad Abdurrohman Nafis said.
She recalled that he ate his favorite satay rice with gusto when she visited him on Sunday, a day before the collapse.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
