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Indonesia School Collapse Death Toll Rises To 45

Authorities say the total number of victims evacuated is 149, with 45 reported dead ... and 104 survivors.

By Channels Television
Updated October 5, 2025
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Relatives of missing students gather as rescuers continue searching for victims at the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java, on October 5, 2025, after a multi-storey building at the school collapsed. (Photo by JUNI KRISWANTO / AFP)

  

The death toll from an Indonesian school collapse rose to 45 on Sunday, officials said, as rescuers recovered more victims buried under the rubble.

 

 

An aerial view shows rescuers searching for victims at the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java, on October 5, 2025, after a multi-story building at the school collapsed during prayers, killing at least 37 people, with 26 others still missing, according to an official. (Photo by Dicky Bisinglasi / AFP)

 

 

Part of the multi-storey building on Indonesia’s Java island collapsed suddenly on Monday as students gathered for afternoon prayers.

Rescuers retrieved another 19 victims from the rubble on Sunday, National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) operations director Yudhi Bramantyo said.

READ ALSO: Two Pulled From Indonesia School Collapse As Rescuers Race Against Time

“According to our calculation, the total number of victims we have evacuated is 149, with 45 reported dead … and 104 survivors,” Yudhi told reporters Sunday, up from a toll of 37 earlier on Sunday and including several body parts.

Nanang Sigit, the head of the local search and rescue agency, confirmed the same death toll.

 

 

Relatives of students look at victims’ data as rescuers continue searching for victims at the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java, on October 5, 2025, after a multi-storey building at the school collapsed. (Photo by JUNI KRISWANTO / AFP)

 

Yudhi said before the latest bodies were found on Sunday that at least 26 people were still missing.

Rescuers were still working around the clock in the rubble of the Islamic boarding school.

“We will continue to do our best,” he said.

“In other words, we will probably extend the operation until we are sure that all victims… have been recovered,” he added.

Yudhi estimated that authorities would be able to clear the rubble by Tuesday.

 

 

 

Rescue Operation ‘60% Complete’

 

 

The recovery operation was around “60 per cent” complete, national disaster agency official Budi Irawan told reporters earlier on Sunday.

“Our hope is that by tomorrow everything will be levelled and we can determine the approximate number of victims who are in the rubble,” Budi said in a livestreamed news conference.

Investigators have been looking into the cause of the collapse, but initial signs pointed to substandard construction, according to experts.

 

 

A police post-mortem officer takes a DNA sample from a relative of one of the missing students as rescuers search for survivors at the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java province, on October 2, 2025, after a multi-storey building at the school collapsed. (Photo by Juni KRISWANTO / AFP)

 

 

 

Complex Operation

 

 

The rescue operation was complex because vibrations in one place could affect other areas, officials said.

The families of the missing agreed on Thursday for heavy equipment to be used, after the 72-hour “golden period” for the best chance of survival came to an end.

Lax construction standards have raised widespread concerns about building safety in Indonesia.

At least three people were killed and dozens were injured in September when a building hosting a prayer recital collapsed in West Java.

 

 

AFP

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