100 people feared trapped in collapsed mosque after earthquake

LADING-LADING, Indonesia: A man who narrowly escaped from the Jabal Nur mosque that collapsed during a magnitude 7 earthquake in Lombok in Indonesia on Sunday night said about 100 people were praying inside when the earthquake struck, and although many got out, dozens were buried in the rubble.

A distraught Muhamad Juanda said yesterday that “people were praying in two rows; there are about 50 people in each row, so a total of 100 people were praying inside the mosque”.

Separately, the local village head, Budhiawan, said about 30 people were trapped based on unclaimed belongings outside the mosque. Juanda said: “I stayed (inside) during the first shock, but the shock grew stronger and we rolled around trying to run out, and I was already outside when the mosque collapsed.”

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency hasn’t said how many people it believed were buried in the mosque, but spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nguroho said he hopes “a lot” would be rescued.

The disaster agency said the overall death toll had risen to 105, and would continue to increase.

Soldiers pulled a man alive from the rubble of the mosque.

Video shot by a soldier on Monday shows the rescuers shouting “Thank God” as the man is pulled out from a space under the mosque’s flattened roof, and staggers away from the ruins supported by soldiers.

“You’re safe, mister,” says one of the soldiers as emotion overcomes the saved man and villagers crowd around him. Efforts to find survivors in the ruins of the mosque continued yesterday.

A backhoe was dragging away parts of the collapsed structure.

The toll of 105 dead is expected to rise as rescuers reach more devastated areas.