The death toll from the collapse of a school in Indonesia has risen to 54, authorities said, with rescuers still searching for more than a dozen missing people.
Hundreds of students, most of them teenage boys, had gathered for prayers at the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in East Java when it collapsed last Monday while undergoing construction.
Indonesia's disaster mitigation agency states this is the country's deadliest disaster of the year. Rescuers hope to complete their search for 13 victims trapped under the rubble by the end of the day.
Investigators are currently examining the cause of the collapse, with some officials indicating that the two-storey building may have caved in due to an unstable foundation.
Out of all the disasters in 2025, natural or not, there hasn't been as many dead victims as the ones in Sidoarjo, Budi Irawan, a deputy at the disaster mitigation agency, told a press conference.
This toll includes at least two people who were rescued from the debris but later succumbed to their injuries in hospital.
Al Khoziny is a traditional Islamic boarding school in Indonesia, known as a pesantren, many of which operate informally and often without proper regulation. It remains unclear whether Al Khoziny had the necessary permits for the construction work.
Rescue operations have been difficult, as the building's collapse created narrow gaps for rescuers to navigate.
Survivors have shared their shocking experiences with local media. One student, 13-year-old Muhammad Rijalul Qoib, recounted how he initially heard a loud rumbling noise as the building began to cave in. He escaped but suffered injuries from falling debris.
