JAKARTA, Sept 30 — Indonesian rescuers were scrambling to locate 38 people today, who were feared trapped under rubble after an Islamic boarding school collapsed in the province of East Java while dozens were at afternoon prayer, disaster mitigation authorities said.
One person was killed and 102 evacuated in yesterday's incident at the Al Khoziny school in the town of Sidoarjo when the unstable building collapsed during construction.
"This sudden occurrence caused building material to fall on dozens of students and workers," agency spokesperson Abdul Muhari said in a statement.
A bulldozer was among the heavy equipment that searchers were using to shift the rubble, while nearly 80 injured victims were taken to the hospital.
Video images from news channel KompasTV showed families of students clustered around a whiteboard looking at a list of survivors.
The agency added that the building's foundations allegedly could not support the weight of construction on its fourth floor.
