PESHAWAR – At least 31 people, including 30 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 initially told Dawn that the death toll had risen to 33, including a female teachers and students aged between seven and 14 and a female teacher.
Later, he said that 30 students students and a female teacher had been killed. According to the official list of casualties shared by LRH, a total of 61 people were brought to the facility, of which 30 were discharged after being treated.
A spokesman for Rewscue 1122 said schoolchildren were crushed and trapped after the roof gave way.
“When the Rescue 1122 emergency response teams arrived at the scene, they found that one roof had collapsed onto another, causing the classroom below to be crushed and trapping children inside,” spokesman Bilal Ahmad Faizi said.
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.
Resident Sohail told AFP “everyone began screaming in panic” after his niece managed to find her way home after escaping the building to inform them of the collapse.
“When I arrived at the scene, I saw around 10 to 15 children trapped beneath the rubble, with debris piled up to their necks. We quickly pulled them out,” he said.
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.
Later, Kundi also attended the funeral prayers of the dead. Speaking to the media, he said that a team had been constituted to probe the incident and the inquiry was underway.
“The first step will be to determine who issued the no-objection certificate to the school,” he said. Kundi also announced that the bereaved families would be given Rs1m as compensation while the injured would be given Rs200,000.
“A transparent investigation into the incident will be conducted and those responsible will be identified,” he said.
Late at night, a notification by the KP Human Resources Department said a fact-finding inquiry committee had been constituted to probe the incident.
The committee is headed by Transport Department Secretary Zubair Ahmed and include Chief Engineer Jamshid Ali Khan of the Communication and Works Department.
The terms of reference of the committee state that the body will:
- Conduct a detailed inquiry into the circumstances leading to the collapse of the classroom roof and establish the sequence of events
- Examine the structural condition of the building, quality of construction, maintenance history and compliance with applicable building safety requirements
- Determine the causes of the collapse and identify any negligence, lapses or responsibility on the part of individuals, school management or concerned regulatory authorities
- Examine the role of the concerned departments and regulatory bodies in ensuring the structural safety of the school building
- Recommend appropriate action against those found responsible, if any.
- Recommend practical preventive measures, including arrangements for structural safety inspections of government and private schools, to avoid recurrence of such incidents.
“The committee may co-opt any technical expert, including structural engineer considered necessary and shall submit its report to the chief secretary within 7 days,” the notification said.
Earlier, 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.”
PM Shehbaz also phone the KP governor according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The prime minister offered condolences to the families of the deceased and directed authorities to provide the best possible medical facilities to the injured and all possible assistance to the affected families, the statement said.
The prime minister also sought a comprehensive report on the incident.
The governor briefed the prime minister on the incident and informed him that the school owner had been arrested and an investigation into the incident had been launched.
The prime minister directed that all aspects of the incident be examined and action be taken against those responsible in accordance with the law, the statement added.
Condolences
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.
In a post on X, he said: “My heart is with the families grieving the loss of their children and a teacher in the tragic roof collapse at a school in Peshawar. No parent should have to endure such pain. I extend my deepest condolences and pray for strength for every family affected.”
He said that he had directed that the injured receive the best possible care.
“We will ensure a thorough investigation into this tragedy and take every necessary step to protect the safety of children in schools across the country,” he 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.
Unicef also expressed its deep sadness over the incident. Unicef representative in Pakistan, Pernille Ironside, said in a statement: “Unicef extends its deepest condolences to the bereaved families and communities affected by this devastating incident.”
“Our thoughts are also with the injured children; we wish them a swift and full recovery. Unicef stands ready to support the government’s response by providing psycho-social support to affected children, families and communities,” she said.
Unicef called for urgent action to ensure that all schools, public and private, meet building safety standards and undergo regular safety inspections.
“These standards must be strictly enforced to prevent such tragedies in future,” Ironside said.
“Every child has the right to learn in a safe environment, where children can learn, grow and thrive, protected from harm. Going to school should never put a child’s life at risk,” she said.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said it was “appalled” by the deaths.
“It is important to stress that this was not an accident but a preventable failure, given that police have reportedly attributed the collapse to a weak structure carrying excessive construction,” it said, noting that a similar incident this year had killed 14 children at a tuition centre in Lahore.
The commission called for an “independent, time-bound” inquiry with the findings to be made public. It also stressed the need for accountability of the school owner and the regulators “who allowed unsafe buildings to operate”, compensation for the families affected, and mandatory structural audits of all public and private schools.
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.
Additional input from AFP
ANN/Dawn