Indonesian crews have recovered a further dozen bodies, bringing the death toll to 61, after a prayer hall at an Islamic boarding school collapsed last week.
The victims were mostly boys aged between 12 and 19, performing afternoon prayers when the structure gave way on 29 September.
The incident occurred at the century-old Al Khoziny school in Sidoarjo, on Indonesia’s Java island. It has been reported that the building was undergoing an unauthorised expansion at the time of the collapse.
Only one student escaped unscathed, while 99 others were treated for injuries and subsequently released. Four individuals, however, suffered serious injuries and remained hospitalised on Monday after undergoing amputations.
With no more signs of life from beneath the tons of rubble three days after the collapse, authorities last week turned to heavy excavators to help them progress more rapidly.
The National Disaster Management Agency said rescue workers pulled 12 bodies and at least seven body parts from the rubble Monday. They continued their search for two students reportedly still missing. No survivors are expected.
Authorities said most of the bodies were in a condition that made them difficult to identify. Grief-stricken relatives provided DNA samples to help with identification at the Bhayangkara police hospital in the neighboring city of Surabaya, the capital of East Java province.
The Disaster Victims Identification teams said they had managed to identify 17 bodies by Monday and had handed over them to their families for funerals.
