Indonesia: Building under construction collapses, kills 3

Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said the building’s foundations allegedly could not support the weight of construction work on its fourth floor, according to a report by Reuters.

Another 99 people survived the collapse on 29 September at the Al Khoziny boarding school in Sidoarjo, a town about 780 km (480 miles) east of Jakarta. The collapsed happened during afternoon prayers.

Earlier on Tuesday, disaster mitigation agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said the unstable building collapsed during construction. “This sudden occurrence caused building material to fall on dozens of students and workers,” he said.

An excavator and a crane were among the heavy equipment Syafii said searchers were using to shift the rubble.

Nanang Sigit, a local search and rescue official, said 38 people remained missing and authorities would not use heavy equipment for fear of causing the remaining structure to collapse.

Abdul said nearly 80 of the injured were taken to hospital.

Video images from news channel KompasTV showed families of students clustered around a whiteboard looking at a list of survivors.

Al Khoziny caretaker Abdus Salam Mujib was quoted by state news agency Antara as saying building work had ended before the prayers but said the foundations could not support the construction.