PESHAWAR: At least 35 people, most of them children, lost their lives on Thursday when the roof of a private school caved in on pupils during lessons in Peshawar’s Dir Colony.
The victims included 34 children, most aged under 13, and a female teacher, officials said. The disaster struck the privately run Al-Khair school while between 110 and 115 children were inside the building.
Rescue officials said the roof of an upper storey gave way and crashed onto the roof of the floor below, which in turn collapsed onto classrooms where lessons were under way. Ambulances rushed to the scene as rescue workers pulled bloodied children from the rubble.
Lady Reading Hospital said 33 bodies were brought to its wards, while two more were taken to the Naseerullah Khan Babar Memorial Hospital. Six of the children who died were girls. Police put the injured above 40, and an emergency was declared at Lady Reading Hospital to treat the wounded, some in critical condition.
Peshawar’s deputy commissioner later confirmed that everyone trapped beneath the debris had been rescued. Police said the school’s owner had been arrested and a case would be registered. The school was being run as an education trust.
Senior police officials blamed weak construction for the collapse. They said the roof had been built with T-iron beams and planks and could not carry the weight placed on it, with further construction on top of a fragile structure. A police investigation officer said substandard materials had been used.
The provincial education secretary ordered the managing director of the Private Schools Regulatory Authority to submit a report on the incident by Friday, and offered condolences to the bereaved families.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari all expressed grief over the deaths. The governor sought a report from the authorities, while the prime minister directed officials to speed up relief work and ensure the injured received the best possible care.
Building collapses recur in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced.
