School Roof Collapse In Northwestern Pakistan Kills Dozens Of Children
The disaster in Peshawar left dozens of young students dead and prompted the arrest of the school owner over construction safety violations.
A school roof collapsed during morning classes on Thursday in the Dir Colony area of Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan. The incident killed between 29 and 35 people, mostly young students.
The collapse occurred around 8:48 a.m. local time at the privately run Al-Khair Education Center. The upper roof caved in just after first-period classes began. It crumpled two storeys of the building and trapped students and teachers beneath the debris.
Local residents and parents arrived first to pull victims from the rubble. Rescuers and ambulances later conducted an operation that lasted four to five hours. Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Afaq Wazir confirmed that search teams cleared the debris and pulled out everyone trapped.
Official casualty reports varied after the disaster. Lady Reading Hospital spokesperson Muhammad Asim said 33 people died, including 32 students between ages 7 and 14 and one female teacher. Asim stated that 12 of the dead students were girls.
Police and rescue officials reported at least 32 children and one teacher killed. Other emergency authorities reported at least 34 children and one teacher died. Earlier reports cited 27 or 28 dead students and one teacher.
Estimates of the injured ranged from 40 to more than 50 people. Regional rescue director Arif Khattak reported at least 45 people sustained injuries. Lady Reading Hospital admitted 20 injured children, keeping three in critical condition with head injuries while discharging the others.
The school operated in a three-storey building in a congested neighborhood, teaching roughly 1,200 children from low-income families. Peshawar Capital City Police Officer Dr. Mian Saeed Ahmed said an overloaded roof under construction caused the collapse on the structurally weak building.
Mahwish Zaman, an injured teacher, said she was teaching when the roof caved in. She said it felt as though the sky had fallen. Grieving relatives accused the school administration of ignoring safety and operating an unsafe building for profit.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep grief and ordered medical care for the wounded. Provincial Governor Faisal Karim Kundi requested an official report. Authorities called it Pakistan's deadliest school collapse, noting that poor building code enforcement and substandard materials often cause collapses nationwide.
Police arrested the owner of the school following the collapse. Deputy Commissioner Wazir and provincial authorities opened an investigation into the cause of the disaster and the building's structural integrity. Mosque loudspeakers in Dir Colony scheduled mass funeral prayers at the nearby Rehman Baba cemetery.
