At least 34 pupils and a teacher have been killed after the roof of a school collapsed on students in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Thursday morning, hospital officials said.
Most of the victims were aged 14 or younger, officials said, as rescue workers spent hours clearing debris from the privately run Al-Khair Education Center in Dir Colony, a densely populated neighbourhood in the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The ceiling of the three-storey building caved in where around 300 students were believed to be studying, with around 100 in three classrooms which were damaged in the tragedy, officials said.
Television footage showed ambulances rushing to the scene as locals and emergency workers pulled bloodied children from the wreckage.
Distraught parents gathered outside the school and at the nearby Lady Reading Hospital, desperately seeking information about their children.
The state-run hospital, where most of the victims were brought for treatment, declared an emergency as medical staff rushed to treat the wounded.
At least 45 people suffered injuries, including several people in critical condition, said Arif Khattak, regional director of the Rescue Department.
"The fatalities include 12 girl students and a female teacher," Lady Reading Hospital spokesperson Mohammad Asim said.
Three students were in critical condition, with head injuries, he said, adding that most of the 20 injured brought to that hospital had been treated and sent home.
The ceiling of the building collapsed at around 8.49am local time, with the rescue operation lasting almost five hours, Mr Khattak said.
Mr Khattak said the school appeared to have been housed in a makeshift building constructed on a temporary basis.
Peshawar police chief Mian Saeed blamed the collapse on the building's weak structure, saying it had been unable to bear the weight of additional construction.
"It was a weak building structure," Mr Saeed said. "Its roof was overloaded with construction on a weak structure, which caused the collapse."
Mr Saeed said the school's owner had been arrested and authorities had opened an investigation.
Among those injured was teacher Mahwish Zaman, who described the terrifying moment the roof collapsed while she was in her classroom.
Speaking to the Associated Press from her hospital bed, Ms Zaman said she felt as though the sky had fallen on her. She lost consciousness during the collapse and woke up in hospital.
A schoolboy narrowly escaped the collapse as he had stepped outside to drink water, his father Samiullah Khan said.
Mr Khan said he rushed to the scene hearing about the disaster and helped rescue three girls from the rubble.
“When I saw the building, I thought my son, who was in a ground-floor classroom beneath the collapsed first floor, had also died. However, he had left the classroom to drink water,” he added.
"Make an example of them, a lesson for all, so that no one dares open a school just to make money without providing facilities," said Mohammad Zaman, who lost two nephews in the collapse.
Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the deaths and directed authorities to provide affected families with the best possible medical assistance
"There should be no compromise whatsoever on the safety of children in educational institutions", Mr Sharif said.
He added that the relevant authorities "must conduct a transparent investigation into the incident" to ensure such tragedies are not repeated.
Deputy prime minister Ishaq Daw said the tragedy has “deeply pained the entire nation” and the government has taken “a serious note of the situation”.
“Ensuring the safety and protection of our children must remain paramount. All necessary measures must be taken to provide immediate assistance to those affected, ensure the best possible medical care for the injured, and strengthen safety standards in our schools to prevent such tragedies from recurring,” he wrote on X.
The governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi demanded a detailed report on the incident that he described as “deeply heartbreaking”.
Mr Kundi said he has ordered a "province-wide structural safety audit" of all schools to "identify potential risks and ensure that immediate corrective measures are taken wherever necessary".
"We cannot allow the safety of our children to be compromised,” he added.
The tragedy has once again raised concerns about building safety in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced, and substandard materials are frequently used.
In July, a roof collapsed at a tutoring centre under construction in Lahore, killing 14 schoolchildren. Police at the time attributed the incident to poor construction quality and the collapse of an unfinished upper floor in an ageing building.
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