At least 29 people, including students and a teacher, were killed when the roof of a private school collapsed in Peshawar, Pakistan, on Thursday, local officials said.
The disaster struck the Al-Khair Education Center in the city’s south-western Dir district. Mohammad Asim, a spokesperson for Lady Reading Hospital, said the bodies of 17 children and a female teacher had been taken there, while some survivors were admitted in critical condition.
District emergency officer Iftikhar Khan said rescuers had pulled at least 45 children from the building. The cause of the collapse had not been established.
Zahir Hussain, who lives a few streets from the school, said he saw people running into the road while he was walking to work. He said he went to the scene and found that the first lesson of the day had only just begun.
“Apparently first period classes had just started … The building was overcrowded. The lesson had barely begun” when the collapse happened, Mr Hussain said.
He described the school as a small, two-storey residential building on a narrow street, serving mainly children from low-income families. Signs outside indicated that it held classes for both boys and girls.
The narrow road made it difficult for emergency teams to reach the site quickly, he said, as families gathered in distress.
“The building was not suitable for use as a school at all. It is a very tragic incident, seeing dead innocent children’s bodies left me silent, and it was extremely painful,” Mr Hussain said.
Authorities had not immediately given a reason for the roof collapse.
