The roof of a private school collapsed in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, killing at least 27 children and a female teacher and injuring more than three dozen other people, a hospital spokesman said, as rescuers searched the rubble for anyone still trapped.
Several children remained trapped under the rubble in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for the emergency services.
A hospital spokesman, Mohammad Asim, also confirmed the casualties, saying some of the injured were in critical condition. All the children killed or injured were age 13 or younger, he said. The hospital declared an emergency as medical staff treated the wounded. Rescuers said that they were removing debris to reach those trapped.
According to witnesses, residents were among the first to reach the school in a congested neighborhood in central Peshawar. Rescue workers arrived within minutes of being alerted, according to accounts from the scene.
A resident, Mohammad Khan, said rescuers carefully removed debris, trying to reach children and staff feared trapped beneath the collapsed roof. Outside the school and at the state-run Lady Reading Hospital, anguished parents sought information about their children, unsure whether they had survived.
The cause of the collapse was under investigation. Peshawar police chief Saeed Ahmed said that the school's owner had been arrested. He said that the building was structurally weak.
In July, a roof collapsed at a tutoring center under construction in Lahore, killing four schoolchildren.
Building collapses are common in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced. Many structures are built with substandard materials, and safety regulations are frequently ignored to reduce costs.