SIDOARJO, Indonesia – Zainul Fatih, 16, lost consciousness when his boarding school collapsed onto him and his friends. He awakened to their cries for help from behind concrete slabs. But he managed to crawl to light.

He is one of just 14 known survivors from the Islamic school disaster in East Java, Indonesia, on Sept 29, left deeply bruised and brutalised. And his ordeal continued on Oct 3 at a shelter near where he had nearly died, where he and his family waited for news about his still-missing cousin and at least 58 others confirmed or presumed to be dead.

“He is still traumatised now, feeling emotionally shaken and refusing to talk to people,” said Mr Abdus Syakur, 45, Zainul’s father.

Rescuers

pulled eight more bodies

But dozens of bodies remained trapped a day after rescuers determined there could be no more survivors. Some relatives stormed the site out of frustration and anger that the search for bodies was taking so long.

“You keep telling us to wait, but it’s already the fifth day!” one woman shouted furiously at the rescue team. “Don’t you feel sorry for us?”

Some family members demanded that they be allowed to help directly in the recovery effort.

The rescuers said the recovery effort was a complex operation because the cramped location made it challenging for heavy equipment to pass through and remove large slabs and debris.

The parents and relatives of the missing students filled a four-storey dormitory building that officials have transformed into a temporary shel...