Indonesian rescue teams are desperately searching for scores of young students buried for two days under concrete tile rubs after the collapse of Islamic boarding schools during the afternoon prayer.
In one pocket of broken concrete at a collapsed century ago Arkogyny boarding school, authorities found six children alive, running food, water and oxygen to the trapped group.
But in total, at least 91 people were feared under the rub that remained missing, Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) said late Tuesday. At least three people have been killed and 100 others have been injured.
Indonesian officials warn that as mammoth rescue operations entered the third day on Wednesday, time is running out to reach those still alive.
Lakshita Lini, director of the Fire and Rescue Department of East Java, told CNN that “if a particular location is identified, it can increase the chances of survival.”
Six locked children were able to communicate with the team on Wednesday, with rescuers “creating tunnel-like passages or dark verts to save the survivors,” she added.
There are 15 locations where the team is focused, six of which are strongly suspected to still contain survivors. Vice Vice President Mohammad Syafii, head of Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), told local television station Kompas.
Without specifying the exact number still alive, Syafii said the rescue team was able to establish communication with some trapped people.
The desperate family gathered at a school in the town of Sidrujo, about 670 kilometers (420 miles) east of Jakarta, with a list of missing students being named.
The students were mostly boys, between 12 and 18 years old, who were praying for the afternoon when the building collapsed on Monday, according to the Associated Press.
Holy Abdullah Arif, 49, ran to school when he heard about the collapse and discovered that his 13-year-old nephew was listed as missing.
“I screamed and ran around. ‘Rosi! Rosi! If you can hear my voice and move in, I can go out!” he told Reuters.
“And the child was screaming from the tile rub, he was stuck. I thought it was Roshi, so I asked, ‘Are you Roshi?” And the child said, “God, no, help me!” ”
“I don’t know how he’s doing, whether he’s dead or alive, whether he’s alive,” he said.
About 300 rescuers continued to try to reach those trapped on Wednesday. However, efforts are hampered by the instability of the collapsed structure, and there is concern that using large machines to remove debris will further collapse the building.
“Running efforts now focus on manually digging holes and gaps to evacuate surviving victims,” BPBD said.
In the video from the scene, a team working under the building carefully shaves the debris to find a way to pass through a huge slab that has been broken and exposed halfway through.
Lead Search and Rescue Coordinator Nanang Sigit told the AP that rescuers were running oxygen to people still trapped under the wreckage.
He added that rescuers saw several bodies under the roof rub but were focused on saving those who were still alive, the AP reported.
“Even though we face debris conditions in the volatile building and many materials from the site, the (co-rescue) team continues to evacuate victims who prioritize safety,” he said in an updated statement.
The 6.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Java on Tuesday also “shifted the structure of the tile ble to put survivors at greater risk,” Basarnas Head Syafii said.
Special units from the National Search and Rescue Agency Basarna arrived to assist in the search on Tuesday, equipped with breathing devices, medical evacuation devices and other extraction tools.
The team in the Surabaya Fire and Rescue division said, “We are also deploying heavy duty rescue devices, including sophisticated search cameras that can detect casualties amongst the tile rubs, and heart rate monitors that can detect survivors’ heartbeats.
More than 80 people were able to escape shortly after the collapse, and rescuers pulled 11 more people out of the building, Basarnas said. One of them was found dead.
Three were pulled alive from Kawarab on Tuesday, but two later died from injuries sustained at the hospital, bringing the death toll to three.
An investigation has begun to determine the cause of the collapse.
Syafii said the fourth floor of the school was under construction at the time of collapse, and when the buildings descended, all four floors were stacked on top of each other.
The AP reported that construction of the prayer hall was underway without permission and cited the local government.
“This is a wake-up call,” said Nasaruddin Umar, the Minister of Religion in Indonesia, who visited the site, according to Antara, an Indonesian press.
“Many Islamic schools are built through community efforts without proper technical supervision, pose serious risks,” he said.
