School Collapse in Indonesia Becomes Deadliest Disaster of 2025 as Death Toll Hits 50

Rescuers Clear Debris at Al Khoziny Islamic Boarding School After Foundation Failure Kills Mostly Teenage Boys

The death toll from the collapse of the Al Khoziny Islamic boarding school in Sidoarjo, East Java province, Indonesia, has risen to at least 50 people, making it the country’s deadliest single disaster this year. Rescue teams worked through the weekend, using heavy equipment to clear the concrete rubble that caved in on hundreds of students, mostly teenage boys.

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Catastrophic Structural Failure

 

Rescue authorities, operating through Monday, confirmed that nearly all the debris had been cleared. By late Sunday, 80% of the rubble had been removed, leading to the grim recovery of bodies and body parts, according to the national disaster mitigation agency.

Budi Irawan, a deputy at the disaster mitigation agency, confirmed the 50 fatalities based on recovered bodies and stated that rescuers expected to conclude their search by the end of Monday for an estimated 13 more trapped victims.

"The number of victims is the biggest this year from one building," Irawan told a press conference, highlighting the devastating scale of the incident. Yudhi Bramantyo, an official with the search and rescue agency, added that the discovery of five additional body parts suggested the final death toll would likely be at least 54 people.

Authorities have preliminarily attributed the catastrophic collapse to construction work being conducted on the upper floors, which the school's foundations could not structurally support.

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Safety Concerns at Religious Schools

 

The tragedy has sharply exposed deep-seated issues regarding building safety and regulation within the country's religious education sector.

Data from Indonesia’s religious affairs ministry indicates there are approximately 42,000 Islamic school buildings, known locally as pesantren, across the country. However, Public Works Minister Dody Hanggodo was quoted by local media stating that a staggering number of these institutions operate without proper authorization: Only 50 pesantren have building permits.

While it remains unconfirmed whether the collapsed Al Khoziny school possessed the necessary building permit, the sheer disparity in compliance raises serious nationwide concerns about the safety and regulatory oversight of religious educational facilities. Recovery workers were captured on video footage shared by the search and rescue agency, carrying orange body bags out of the ruins as the nation grapples with the devastating loss and the implications for building standards.