- Part of the school collapsed when the students gathered for prayers.
- The evacuation process is still in progress, explains the head of the rescue agency.
- More victims could be found: head of the disaster agency.
The number of deaths in an collapse of the Indonesian school has increased at 17 on Saturday, said officials, while rescuers deployed heavy machines to recover dozens of additional victims believed still buried under the rubble.
Part of the several floor boarding school suddenly collapsed on Monday while the students met for afternoon prayers.
The rescuers recovered two bodies and part of the body of the rubble on Saturday, bringing the number of deaths to 17, said the director of the National Research and Rescue Research (Basarnas), Yudhi Bramantyo, in a press release.
“The evacuation process is still underway. The elimination of debris is focused on the north side in an area not integrated into the main structure,” Yudhi said on Saturday.
The Local Research and Rescue Agency Nanang Sigit confirmed the updated toll in a separate declaration.
Earlier on Saturday, the authorities said they had recovered nine bodies on Friday.
The rescuers were looking for 49 people who were still missing, said Suharanto, head of the National Agency for Attenuation Catastrophes (BNPB), before the recovery of the last organs.
Other victims have been found, said Suharanto, who, like many Indonesians, has only one name, because the rescuers have brought heavy machines to clear locations where the victims would be buried under the rubble.
“After the last victim was found last night, we focus on massive cleaning, with heavy equipment entering the collapsed areas,” he said, as reported by the diffuser Kompas TV.
The collapse of the school was so violent that it sent tremors to the neighborhood, according to the residents.
Investigators examined the cause of the collapse, but the initial signs underlined the lower quality construction, experts said.
The rescue operation was complex because vibrations in one place could affect other areas, officials said.
But the families of the missing agreed on Thursday so that heavy equipment was used, after the “golden period” of 72 hours for the best chance of survival.
The rescue operation was complicated by an earthquake that hit the night on Tuesday, briefly interrupting the research.
