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Indonesia's rescue teams located numerous further remains over the past few days, bringing the total number of deaths to 49 after a prayer hall at an Muslim educational institution fell down last week.

Focused Emergency Efforts In Progress

Using heavy excavators fitted with breaking equipment, cutting tools and occasionally their bare hands, emergency personnel removed tons of wreckage in a desperate effort to locate the 14 students said to be still missing. Emergency workers uncovered 35 bodies over the weekend alone, according to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

Sequence of the Heartbreaking Collapse

The construction crashed down on top of hundreds of pupils – primarily male students aged 12 to 19 – on 29 September at the century-old school in Sidoarjo. Of those rescued, 97 were cared for for different injuries and sent home. Six others suffered severe trauma and continued to be under medical care on Sunday.

Cause of Building Failure Uncovered

Authorities claim that extra stories were being built to the original facility lacking a permit, resulting in structural failure. This has provoked widespread outrage over unpermitted construction in Indonesia.

“The building work failed to withstand the weight while the building material was being placed [to build] the new story because it didn't meet safety requirements and the entire 800-square-metres construction collapsed,” explained a construction expert from a local technical institute.

The expert also noted that pupils must not have been given access inside a facility undergoing construction.

Official Statement

Sidoarjo district's chief acknowledged the school's management had not requested the necessary authorization before commencing construction.

“Various structures, among them conventional boarding school additions, in non-urban areas were erected lacking a permit,” the authority stated.

Legal Implications

The nation's building safety laws specify that permits have to be provided by the competent officials prior to any building work, or else management face fines and incarceration. If a infraction causes death, this can result in up to 15 years in prison and a penalty of up to 8bn Indonesian currency (nearly $500,000).

Address from Institution Management

The institution's manager, a well-known religious leader in the region, delivered a official statement in a unusual address a day after the incident.

“This is truly God's will so we must all be steadfast, and may God compensate with something better, with something much better,” he stated. “We must be confident that God will bless those touched by this tragedy with great blessings.”

Current Inquiry

Criminal inquiries involving religious leaders are still sensitive in the largest predominantly Muslim country.

There has been silence from school officials since the incident.

“We will examine this incident in detail,” the province's police chief said on Sunday.

“Our inquiry also needs input from a group of building specialists to determine whether negligence by the facility led to the loss of life.”