Rescue teams in Indonesia have brought in excavators and other heavy machinery to clear debris from a collapsed Islamic boarding school after specialized equipment no longer detected any signs of survivors.
The country’s disaster agency said on Thursday.
The decision marked a shift from painstaking manual searches that had been carried out since the four-storey prayer hall of the Al Khoziny boarding school in East Java’s Sidoarjo district caved.
The incident happened during afternoon prayers on Monday.
Rescue workers on Wednesday pulled five people alive, but nearly 60 others, mostly aged between 13 and 18, remained unaccounted for, the National Disaster Management Agency said.
Two bodies that were recovered on Wednesday brought the confirmed death toll to five.
Rescuers had deployed thermal drones and other sensors to detect life beneath tons of concrete, bricks and twisted iron rods, agency chief Suharyanto said.
“We sterilised the site and made it completely quiet so that if there were any signs of life, our equipment could pick it up.
“But there were none,” Suharyanto told reporters.
Excavators and other heavy machinery are being used to clear the collapsed concrete and iron beams, he said.
Authorities stressed that the work would proceed cautiously to avoid further danger to trapped victims.
To prevent further collapse, teams had avoided cranes and heavy machinery, instead crawling through shafts less than 60 centimetres wide and working manually with hand tools.
More than 200 personnel are taking part in the operation, including troops, police officers and engineering experts as well as civil engineering specialists experienced in building collapses, Suharyanto said.
The multi-story school caved in during concrete-pouring work, when a supporting column reportedly gave way.
About 100 people managed to escape the collapse, with many still receiving treatment in hospital.
Indonesia, home to the world’s largest Muslim population, has tens of thousands of Islamic boarding schools known locally as pesantren.
The tragedy has reignited debate about the enforcement of building safety regulations across the country.