In Indonesia, a school has just collapsed: according to the BBC reports it is the Islamic College to the Khoziny of the city of Sidoarjo, located in the eastern part of the island of Java. The collapse caused at least 3 deaths, while more than 38 students between 12 and 17 years old are still stuck under the rubble.
According to the authorities, the disaster took place on the afternoon of Monday 29 September (the early hours of September 30 in Italy), while the students were inside the building for the moment of prayer. The causes of the collapse are not yet clear: according to the first reconstructions, the school was undergoing an unauthorized expansion of the prayer room (initially consisting of two floors), for which additional construction of two other floors had been carried out without any authorization. The foundations of the old building, therefore, may not have been able to support the weight of two concrete floors and would have collapsed during the jet process.
More than 300 rescuers immediately intervened on the site, who immediately administered oxygen and water to those who are still trapped under the rubble to keep them alive while the debris removal works are carried out. However, according to Mohammad Syafeii, head of the National Research and Rescue Agency, the rescue operations are complicating, given that the building has undergone a structural transfer called “Pancake collapse”, in which the building sink into itself in a mainly vertical direction, involving the total destruction of the property: in this specific case, the layers of concrete plates are creating any empty spaces, generating conditions, generating conditions. unstable to recover the trapped survivors. At the same time, the use of heavy equipment, such as cranes or excavators (fundamental for the removal of concrete slabs) could endanger the life of the students blocked under the rubble: for this reason, the rescuers are digging with bare hands.
At the moment the rescue operations have been temporarily suspended due to the instability of the building and the risk of further collapses. At least 100 students were brought to hospital after having suffered serious injuries, with the budget of the victims that could increase: the situation therefore remains updated.
