At least 33 children and a teacher have been killed after the roof of a private school collapsed in north-western Pakistan, hospital officials said, in a tragedy that has renewed concern over unsafe school buildings.
More than a dozen pupils were injured, several critically, while rescuers feared that others remained trapped beneath the rubble. The collapse occurred shortly after morning lessons began, when the roof of an upper-floor classroom gave way and crashed through the ceilings of classrooms below, reported by the BBC News.
Emergency officials said the building had been constructed as a temporary structure and that its roof slabs were substandard. The police chief said the entire building appeared to have been overloaded and unable to bear the weight placed upon it. Classrooms on three floors were affected, with dozens of children inside at the time.
Rescue efforts were hampered by the school’s location in a narrow street, where only one vehicle could pass at a time. Ambulances struggled to reach the scene, while residents used shovels and their bare hands to pull children from the debris.
One teacher from a nearby school described pulling six children from the wreckage. Most had initially been alive and speaking, he said, but later died from their injuries. He recalled a child asking for water, his mouth dry and his body covered in blood.
The school’s owner has been arrested, and authorities have pledged a full inquiry into possible violations of building regulations. The provincial governor ordered an immediate safety audit of schools across the region, saying children’s safety could not be compromised.
The disaster follows a series of deadly infrastructure failures in Pakistan. Four months earlier, 14 children died when the roof of a private tuition centre collapsed near Lahore. In August, 14 newborn babies were killed in a hospital fire in Islamabad; an inquiry found the facility lacked fire alarms and sprinklers.
For grieving families, the questions are painfully familiar: why were children sent into a building known to be unsafe, and why did warnings come only after so many young lives had been lost?
