JAKARTA: At least three people were killed and dozens were injured when a building hosting a prayer recital collapsed on Indonesia’s main island of Java on Sunday, a disaster official said.
Around a hundred people, mostly women, had gathered for a Koran recital at a community hall in West Java’s Bogor district to commemorate the prophet Mohammed’s birthday when the building suddenly collapsed, said Mochamad Adam Hamdani, an official from the local disaster mitigation agency.
“According to initial data, 84 people are being treated, three people died,“ Adam told AFP Sunday.
He said it was likely the building, which was used as a meeting hall as well as a place of worship, collapsed because it was overcrowded.
“Perhaps the structure was not strong, as people were enthusiastic to follow the event to commemorate the prophet’s birthday,“ Adam said.
All the people inside had been accounted for, he said.
Victims were immediately rushed to nearby hospitals, with the majority suffering minor injuries.
Adam, citing witnesses, said it was not raining at the time and there did not appear to have been a landslide.
Lax construction standards have raised widespread concerns about building safety in Indonesia.
In 2022, a three-storey minimarket in South Kalimantan collapsed and killed five people. Two people were also injured when a five-storey building in Jakarta partially collapsed two years earlier.
Teenagers rehearsing for a musical show were among seven people killed in Cirebon, east of Jakarta, in 2018 when the building they were in collapsed.
At least 75 people were also injured the same year when a mezzanine floor at Indonesia’s stock exchange building in Jakarta collapsed into the lobby – AFP
