The death toll from the collapse of a school in Indonesia has risen to 54, according to authorities, with rescuers still searching for more than a dozen others who are unaccounted for.
Hundreds of students, primarily teenage boys, were gathered for prayers at the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in East Java when the structure collapsed last Monday during construction.
Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency has described this as the deadliest disaster of the year. Efforts are continuing as rescuers aim to locate the 13 victims believed trapped under the rubble.
Officials are investigating the collapse, with some suggesting that an unstable foundation might be to blame for the disaster.
A deputy at the disaster mitigation agency, Budi Irawan, noted, Out of all the disasters in 2025, natural or not, there hasn't been as many dead victims as the ones in Sidoarjo. Some of the victims included individuals who were rescued but succumbed to their injuries in the hospital.
The Al Khoziny school is classified as a pesantren, a traditional Islamic boarding school in Indonesia. Many pesantren operate without rigorous regulation, leaving questions about whether Al Khoziny had appropriate permits for its construction project.
Rescue operations face challenges due to the nature of the building's collapse, which resulted in only narrow spaces for workers to navigate.
Survivors have shared their harrowing experiences, including 13-year-old Muhammad Rijalul Qoib, who described hearing the sound of falling debris and narrowly escaping, albeit with injuries from the incident.
