PESHAWAR: At least 33 people, including 32 students and a female teacher, were killed when a school roof collapsed in the provincial capital’s Afridi Abad area on Thursday.
Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) spokesperson Muhammad Asim told Dawn that the death toll had risen to 33 from an earlier figure of 28. The deceased included 32 students aged between seven and 14 and a female teacher, he said.
A total of 20 injured children were also brought to the hospital, most of whom have since been discharged. Three children who sustained serious head injuries remained under treatment, he added.
Speaking to Geo News, Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Afaq Wazir confirmed that the rescue operation launched after the collapse had concluded.
“Rescue teams have cleared all the debris, and no more injured children are at the scene,” he said.
Following the incident, an emergency was declared at the hospital, said the LRH spokesperson in an earlier statement.
Peshawar DC earlier told Dawn that the roof of Al-Khair School had collapsed, trapping students beneath the debris. According to a statement issued by his office, students were present in their classrooms when the incident occurred.
A rescue official told AFP that the ceiling came down on the students after the roof of a higher floor collapsed, crumpling the two storeys. Peshawar Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Dr Mian Saeed Ahmed said the building’s structure was weak.
“Its roof was overweight with construction on a weak structure that caused the collapse,” AFP quoted him as saying.
Speaking to Dawn, Samiullah, a parent who rushed to the site after hearing about the incident, said he had rescued three girls, all under the age of eight.
“I received a call from home at around 8:50am and reached the site about 10 minutes later, at around 9am. We have six children studying at the school,” he said.
“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.
KP governor orders audit
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi expressed grief over the deaths in the school roof collapse and sought a detailed report on the incident. He also directed the authorities to determine the cause of the collapse.
“The loss of precious lives of innocent children is an extremely painful tragedy,” he said, according to a statement, extending his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.
He prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured children and directed the authorities concerned to provide them with the best possible medical facilities.
In another statement on his X account, the KP governor added that he had also directed a structural safety audit of educational institutions across the province 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,” Kundi wrote.
Meanwhile, the Elementary and Secondary Education Department constituted a fact-finding committee to probe the incident and tasked it with submitting a report on Thursday.
The committee included: Javid Iqbal, the chairman of the Private Schools Regularity Authority; Muhammad Farooq, the deputy secretary of the Elementary and Secondary Education Department; and a member to be co-opted by a committee.
The committee was tasked with probing the incident and ascertaining the facts that led to the roof collapse, unearthing the factors that led to it, suggesting measures to prevent such incidents in the future and making appropriate recommendations.
Separately, KP Inspector General (IG) Zulfiqar Hameed ordered Peshawar CCPO to oversee the rescue operation and directed the traffic police to establish a “green corridor” to ensure uninterrupted movement of ambulances.
Rescue and police teams were directed to utilise all available resources, a statement said.
“In this hour of grief, KP police stands with the affected families,” the IGP was quoted as saying.
PM Shehbaz takes ‘serious notice’
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken “serious notice” of the incident, as he offered his condolences to the bereaved families in a post on X.
“Our children are our most precious asset, and every such loss is a tragedy for the entire country,” DPM Dar said.
He added that “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.”
President Asif Ali Zardari also expressed “profound shock and grief” over the tragic school incident in a statement on X.
“This heart-wrenching tragedy has plunged the entire nation into shock,” he said, extending his condolences to the families of the children killed.
He directed relevant authorities to provide top-notch medical facilities to the injured and extend assistance to the affected families. “In this hour of sorrow, the entire nation shares equally in the grief of the affected families,” he said.
President Zardari emphasised the need for a comprehensive investigation to determine the cause of the incident and to ensure that all educational institutions’ buildings were following safety standards.
PM Shehbaz expressed “deep grief and sorrow” over the incident, in a statement shared by his office.
He extended his condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured, directing that “all possible medical assistance” be provided.
PM Shehbaz has also issued instructions to expedite relief operations, the statement said.
PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari also expressed grief over the incident.
In a post on X, he said he was “deeply saddened” by the tragedy, adding that the thought of parents sending their children to school in the morning only to receive news of their deaths was heartbreaking.
He expressed solidarity with the bereaved families and prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured.
Bilawal’s sister, MNA Aseefa Bhutto-Zardari, also extended condolences to the bereaved families and prayed for the swift recovery of the injured.
She said schools must be places of learning and protection, adding that those responsible for ensuring children’s safety must be held accountable.
Roof collapse incidents
Building and roof collapses are common in Pakistan, often attributed to poor safety standards and the use of substandard construction materials.
In July, three girls, aged 3 to 13, were killed after a portion of the outer wall of a government primary school near Umerkot collapsed and the rubble fell on them.
The same month, a child died, and at least five other people were injured after the roof of an under-construction private school building collapsed in Lahore’s Baghbanpura neighbourhood.
On June 30, 14 children lost their lives when the roof of a private tuition centre collapsed in Lahore’s Kahna area. The incident had come less than two months after four children were killed and 20 people injured after the roof of a classroom at a private school in Dera Ghazi Khan collapsed.
A probe into the DG Khan incident revealed that construction for an extension of the tuition centre’s building was under way when the roof of the classroom collapsed.
Last week, two men died in Pakpattan after the roof of their house collapsed during heavy rain and a windstorm.
In June, a labourer was killed, and three others were injured when the roof of an under-construction building collapsed in Khawaspur locality of Lalamusa, Gujrat. The same month, two people were injured after the roof of a house collapsed in Lahore’s Nishtar area. In August, a couple was killed, and their daughters were injured after the roof of their house in Shahzad Town, Islamabad, collapsed following three days of heavy rainfall.