Death toll from boarding school collapse in Indonesia tops 50

JAKARTA(Indonesia): The death toll from the collapse of a school in Indonesia last week has climbed to at least 50 people as rescuers have cleared nearly all of the debris, rescue authorities said on Monday.

Piles of concrete caved in on hundreds of mostly teenage boys after the collapse of the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in the Indonesian town of Sidoarjo, in East Java province, trapping and later killing them.

Using excavators, rescuers late on Sunday cleared 80 per cent of the debris and found bodies and body parts of the mostly teenage victims, the disaster mitigation agency said in a statement.

Budi Irawan, a deputy at the disaster mitigation agency, said a total of 50 people have died based on the bodies recovered and rescuers were expected to finish their search by the end of Monday for 13 more trapped victims. (ANI/WAM)