School roof collapse kills at least 34, injures more than 50 in Pakistan

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The roof of a private school collapsed in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Thursday, killing at least 34 children and a teacher and injuring more than 50 other people in the deadliest incident of its kind in the country, authorities and a hospital official said. The children killed or injured at Al-Khair school were between 6 and 12 years old, while the oldest was 14, Lady Reading Hospital spokesman Mohammad Asim said. Some of the injured were in critical condition, he said. The hospital declared an emergency as medical staff treated the wounded. Hours after the collapse in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, rescue officials said that everyone trapped beneath the rubble had been pulled out and crews were clearing the debris. Mahwish Zaman, an injured teacher speaking from a hospital bed, said that the three-story school had an estimated 1,200 students enrolled in nursery through fifth grade. She told The Associated Press that she was in her classroom when the roof collapsed and felt as if the sky had fallen. She regained consciousn