Rescue teams search for survivors in Indonesia as the boarding school collapse death toll rises to at least 40.
Sidoarjo, Indonesia – Sixteen-year-old Muhammad Royhan Firdaus had just finished praying on the first floor of the Al-Khoziny Islamic Boarding School in the East Javan city of Sidoarjo on Monday when something struck him on the head.
When he looked up, he saw pieces of the ceiling falling upon him and the other boys, all aged 12 to 18.
“I thought it was an earthquake,” he said. “We all started to run.”
But it wasn’t an earthquake.
For several weeks, construction work had been taking place at the school, where builders were pouring concrete on two upper floors. The weight of the concrete caused the building to collapse in layers that Indonesian officials described as resembling a “pancake”.
Muhammad fell several times as he fled and was hit by debris, including large chunks of crumbling
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