At least 34 schoolchildren and a female teacher have been killed after the roof of a school collapsed during morning lessons in Peshawar, north-west Pakistan.
Rescue workers spent four to five hours searching the rubble of the privately run Al-Khair Education Centre, while anxious parents and relatives gathered outside the building in the city’s crowded neighbourhood.
About 110 pupils were attending lessons in three classrooms when the roof of an upper floor gave way, crushing two storeys of the building, officials said.
Most of those killed were under 13 and came from low-income families. The fatalities included 12 girls and the female teacher, according to Mohammad Asim, a spokesman for Lady Reading Hospital.
At least 45 children were injured, regional Rescue Department director Arif Khattak said. Three remained in critical condition with head injuries, while most of the injured children taken to hospital were treated and discharged.
Television footage showed rescuers using their bare hands to clear debris and carry bloodied children to ambulances as residents crowded the narrow alley around the school.
The collapse happened at 8.48am local time, Mr Khattak said. Peshawar police chief Mian Saeed described the structure as weak and said construction had overloaded the roof.
“It was a weak building structure,” Mr Saeed said. “Its roof was overloaded with construction on a weak structure, which caused the collapse.”
The school’s owner has been arrested and an investigation has been launched. There was no immediate comment from school officials.
Distraught relatives accused the school of ignoring concerns about the condition of the building and called for those responsible to be held accountable.
“Make an example of them, a lesson for all, so that no one dares open a school just to make money without providing facilities,” Mohammad Zaman said after losing two nephews in the collapse.
Jawad Ahmad, whose son and daughter attended the school and survived, said he was devastated by the news. “It felt as if someone had shot me in the chest when I learned that the school building had collapsed,” he said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed sorrow over the tragedy and offered condolences to the victims’ families.
Many low-cost private schools in Pakistan operate from rented buildings with limited oversight. In June, at least 14 children were killed when the roof of a tutoring centre in a dilapidated building collapsed in Lahore.
