At least 34 people, including 33 pupils and a teacher, have been killed after a school roof collapsed in Peshawar, north-western Pakistan, hospital officials have confirmed.
More than a dozen others were injured, some critically, while several children were feared trapped beneath the rubble following the incident at the private Al-Khair School in Dir Colony on Thursday morning.
Emergency services received a report of the collapse at 08:48 local time (03:48 GMT), shortly after lessons had begun, according to rescue officials.
The roof of an upper floor classroom reportedly gave way, sending heavy debris crashing through classrooms below and causing ceilings on three floors to collapse.
Rescue official Bilal Faizi told the BBC that children inside the affected classrooms were trapped beneath the debris. Emergency official Arif Khattak said the school was operating in a building that had been constructed on a temporary basis.
Peshawar police chief Mian Saeed said approximately 30 pupils were in the top floor classroom, 40 in the middle floor classroom and 45 on the ground floor when the structure collapsed.
He attributed the disaster to what he described as substandard roof slabs and an overloaded building that exceeded its weight bearing capacity.
According to hospital reports, Lady Reading Hospital confirmed the deaths of 32 children and a teacher, while Naseerullah Khan Babar Memorial Hospital reported the death of another child.
The narrow street leading to the school complicated rescue efforts, as only one vehicle could pass through at a time, making it difficult for emergency teams to reach the site and transport injured children to hospitals.
Local residents joined rescue workers in searching through the rubble. An English teacher from a nearby school said he rushed to the scene after hearing ambulance sirens and helped pull more than 20 children from the debris.
He said he personally rescued six children, many of whom appeared to be alive and speaking at the time, but later died.
Another resident, identified as Sohail, said residents used shovels to try to reach children trapped beneath the collapsed structure.
Police chief Saeed warned that the remaining building was extremely dangerous and urged people to stay away from the site.
Describing the incident as a case of gross negligence, he said authorities would investigate possible violations of building regulations and establish the circumstances that led to the collapse. He also confirmed that the school’s owner had been arrested.
Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi ordered a safety audit of schools across the province to identify potential hazards and ensure that corrective measures are taken.
He said the safety of children must not be compromised.
The investigation is expected to examine the building’s construction, structural condition and compliance with safety requirements as authorities seek to establish responsibility for one of the deadliest school-building collapses reported in the region.
