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SIDOARJO, Indonesia: A building under construction at an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia collapsed on dozens of praying students Monday, killing at least one student, injuring dozens and burying others in the rubble, officials said.
Police, soldiers and rescue workers dug into the debris through the night in attempts to locate at least three additional students believed trapped alive at Al Khoziny Islamic Boarding School in the East Java town of Sidoarjo. Rescuers also said they saw additional bodies, indicating the death toll was likely to rise.
The students were performing afternoon prayers in a building that was undergoing an unauthorized expansion when it suddenly collapsed on top of them, provincial police spokesperson Jules Abraham Abast said.
One male student was killed and 83 other students were injured and taken to two nearby hospitals, some of them in critical condition, officials said.
Most of the victims were male, because female students were praying separately in another part of the building and managed to escape, survivors said. Residents, teachers and administrators assisted injured students, many with head injuries and broken bones.
Authorities launched an investigation into the cause of the building’s collapse.
Abast said the old prayer hall was originally only two stories, but had been renovated by adding two more floors without a permit to build a new structure.
“The old building’s foundation was apparently unable to support two floors of concrete and collapsed during the pouring process,” Abast said.
Television reports showed dozens of rescue workers, police and soldiers desperately digging through steel reinforced concrete debris in search of survivors in overnight rescue operations, supported by heavy equipment.
Families of the students gathered near the collapsed building, anxiously awaiting news of their children. Relatives wailed as they watched rescuers pull a dusty, injured student from a buried hall.
Heavy slabs of concrete and other rubble and unstable parts of the building hampered search and rescue efforts, said Nanang Sigit, who led the effort. Three students were believed to be trapped alive under the rubble.
“We have been running oxygen and water to those still trapped under the debris and keeping them alive while we work hard to get them out,” Sigit said. He added that rescuers saw several bodies scattered under the rubble, but that they focused on saving those who were still alive.

LONDON: A leaked draft proposal for a postwar governing body in Gaza has raised alarm among Palestinian figures, who warn it would sideline them in favor of international officials and split Gaza from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

The 21-page confidential document, seen and and Haaretz, outlined a Gaza International Transitional Authority headed by a chair with sweeping powers.

Among those suggested for roles are Sir Tony Blair, the former UK prime minister, Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris, Marc Rowan of Apollo Global Management, and Aryeh Lightstone, a former adviser to US President Donald Trump’s ambassador to Israel.

Sources said the names were illustrative and used without permission.

The plan envisages a seven to ten-member council approved by the UN Security Council, with only one Palestinian member “from the business or security sector.”

The council would make “binding decisions,” issue legislation and oversee appointments, according to the document.

Its chair would “set the political and strategic direction for GITA” and lead diplomacy with Israel, Egypt and the US, without mention of the Palestinian Authority.

“You would have a council with a majority of foreign members legislating for Palestinians in Gaza,” said Xavier Abu Eid, a former member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization’s diplomatic negotiating team.

“There is already suspicion of Tony Blair because of the Palestinian experience when he was the Quartet representative (of the UN, US, EU and Russia mediation group). But the biggest is over what it means for Palestine as a single political entity, something that was recognized even by Israel in the Oslo Accords. This plan effectively legally separates Gaza from the West Bank and does nothing to explain how they will remain part of the same territory,” Eid added.

A source close to Blair said that while he had been involved in talks, “the guiding principle is that Gaza is for Gazans, with no displacement of the population.”

The sourced added: “We do not support or endorse any proposal that involves the displacement of Gazans. The document states that any transitional governing body for Gaza would ultimately return authority to the Palestinian Authority, as part of a pathway toward a Palestinian state.”

Mustafa Barghouti, general-secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, told the Washington Post: “We’ve been under British colonialism already. He has a negative reputation here. If you mention Tony Blair, the first thing people mention is the Iraq war.”

The draft emerged ahead of an Oval Office meeting between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump told reporters last week: “We are very close to a deal on Gaza.” He promised an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages within 48 hours, and a gradual Israeli withdrawal, according to Arab officials briefed on the plan.