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The number of fatalities from a catastrophic structural failure at an educational institution in Indonesia climbed to 14 on Friday as emergency crews pulled multiple bodies from beneath the debris. Dozens of students are still missing and the death toll is expected to rise.

Rescue Efforts Ramp Up as Hope Fades

Initially, rescuers conducted manual searches for those trapped alive after the building collapsed on Monday. But with no more signs of life detected by Thursday, they began using heavy excavators equipped with demolition tools to help them progress more rapidly.

Emergency workers labored in the blazing heat on Friday to break up and clear massive pieces of debris, with the smell of the deceased a grim reminder of what they would find below.

By the evening, they had recovered nine victims, bringing the official death toll to 14, with approximately 50 students remaining missing.

Specifics of the Collapse

The structure collapsed on top of many of people on Monday in a worship area at the historic Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo in East Java, about 780km (480 miles) to the east of Jakarta.

The chief of Indonesia’s National Disaster Mitigation Agency, Suharyanto, informed reporters at the site on Friday that the retrieval operation were expected to be complete by the end of Saturday.

The students were primarily boys in grades seven to 12, aged from 12 and 19 years of age. Female students were praying in another part of the building and were able to get out safely, eyewitnesses said.

Survivor Account: Narrow Survival from the Debris

Thirteen-year-old Rizalul Qoib, one of 104 those who escaped, returned to the site on Friday to look at what was remaining of his school, and said he was fortunate to have gotten out with only a minor gash to his head.

He said, like the others, he had been engaged in worship when he heard something like the noise of crumbling material, which got increasingly intense.

“I stopped praying and ran when I felt the floor trembling,” he recalled. “All at once the building gave way, the wreckage of the roof fell on my head, my face.”

Then the room became pitch black, but he heard someone yelling, “this way, this way” and he followed the sound until he eventually found a small opening in the rubble.

“I just went toward the light,” Qoib said.

Many of the other individuals who were injured but got out or were rescued experienced serious head trauma and broken bones, and are still being treated in the medical facility.

Reason of the Disaster

Authorities have stated the structure was two floors, but two more levels were under construction lacking authorization. Police said the old building’s base apparently was could not bear the extra floors and collapsed during the pouring process.

School officials have not yet commented.