Death toll in Indonesian school collapse rises to at least 60

Indonesia’s national search-and-rescue agency said more bodies discovered in the rubble, a week after school collapse.

Rescue team members carry a body bag from the site of the collapsed Al-Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java, Indonesia on October 6, 2025 [AFP]

By Rory Sullivan and News Agencies

Published On 6 Oct 20256 Oct 2025

Save

Rescue workers have uncovered more bodies at the site of a collapsed school in Indonesia, raising the death toll to at least 60.

The authorities revised the number of fatalities on Monday, a week after concrete walls and floors caved in at the Al-Khoziny Islamic boarding school in East Java province while students, mostly boys aged between 12 and 19, were performing afternoon prayers.

Recommended Stories

list of 3 itemsend of list

Dozens of other pupils were injured when the multi-storey building collapsed.

Footage shared by the Indonesian search-and-rescue agency on Monday showed orange body bags being carried away from the school.

Reuters news agency cited Mohammad Syafii, the head of the agency, as saying that the death toll had risen to 65. However, other sources put the number at closer to 60.

Syafii also told reporters that the operation would continue until rescuers were “sure that no victims are left”.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Yudhi Bramantyo, the national search-and-rescue agency’s operations director, indicated that the search for more victims was nearly finished.

“We hope we can conclude the recovery today, and we will return the bodies [to the families],” Bramantyo said.

The collapse is thought to be the deadliest disaster the country has experienced so far this year.

Authorities have said it was caused by construction work on the upper floors, which the building’s foundations were not strong enough to support.

Al-Khoziny is a religious boarding school, known locally as a pesantren. It is one of around 42,000 that collectively serve seven million students in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, according to Indonesia’s Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Advertisement

Only 50 of these Islamic schools have building permits, Public Works Minister Dody Hanggodo was quoted as saying by local media on Sunday.

Last month, three people were killed and dozens wounded in the Indonesian province of West Java when a building collapsed during a prayer recital.