‘No more signs of life’ 3 days after Indonesian school collapsed, rescuers say
Relatives remain hopeful that the 59 missing people will be found alive, even after the 72-hour ‘golden period’ for survival comes to an end
Part of the multi-storey Al Khoziny Boarding School on the main island of Java suddenly collapsed on Monday as students gathered for afternoon prayers.
After days of rescue operations, 59 people were still feared buried under the rubble after at least five people had been confirmed dead.
“We used hi-tech equipment like thermal drones and, scientifically, there were no more signs of life,” said Suharyanto, the head of the country’s disaster mitigation agency.
Rescuers found no signs of life on Thursday after calling out the names of the victims and using motion detectors and scanners to track movements or vital signs, search and rescue agency official Emi Freezer said.
Late on Wednesday, Yudhi Bramantyo, operations director at the agency, said the total death toll from the collapse had reached six, although the country’s disaster mitigation agency said on Thursday it was still at five.