Indonesian school collapse claims 37 lives due to Illegal construction

Indonesian authorities are intensifying investigations after the collapse of a prayer hall at an Islamic boarding school killed 37 students as of Sunday morning, exposing the country’s recurring problem of illegal building extensions without permits.

Rescue teams continued combing through the rubble on Sunday at the century-old Al Khoziny school in Sidoarjo, East Java, almost a week after the September 30 collapse. Using jackhammers, saws, and even their bare hands, they recovered 23 more bodies over the weekend, leaving 26 students still missing.

The disaster struck hundreds of students—mostly boys aged 12 to 19—during evening prayers. Only one student escaped unharmed, while 95 were treated for minor injuries and released. Eight others remain hospitalized with serious wounds.Police say the school had illegally added two floors to its original two-story structure, a violation that caused the building’s failure. “The construction couldn’t support the load while the concrete was pouring for the third floor because it didn’t meet standards,” said Mudji Irmawan, a structural expert from the Tenth November Institute of Technology. He added that students should never have been inside an unfinished building.

Sidoarjo district chief Subandi confirmed that the school had not obtained the mandatory construction permit. “Many traditional boarding schools in non-urban areas expand without proper authorization,” he told the Associated Press.

Under Indonesia’s 2002 Building Construction Code, unauthorized construction can result in fines and imprisonment of up to 15 years if it leads to fatalities. Despite strict laws, illegal building extensions remain common, especially in smaller towns. This is not the first collapse this year —in March, a partially completed warehouse in West Java also fell due to substandard, unpermitted construction, killing six workers.

Criminal cases involving clerics are often sensitive in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country. Police officials assured that investigations will proceed with input from construction experts to determine negligence.Officials say the tragedy underscores a nationwide crisis of lax oversight and disregard for safety codes—a problem that continues to claim lives across Indonesia’s rapidly growing regions.