Peshawar [Pakistan], October 15 : At least 28 people, including 27 students and a female teacher, were killed and 19 others injured after the roof of a private school collapsed in Pakistan's Peshawar on Thursday, Dawn reported, citing hospital authorities.
The incident occurred at Al Khair School in the Afridi Abad locality, where students were attending classes when the roof gave way, trapping them beneath the debris.
Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) spokesperson Muhammad Asim confirmed to Dawn that the death toll had risen to 28 from the earlier figure of 21.
The injured were taken to hospitals for treatment, with five of them earlier reported to be in critical condition.
An emergency was declared at LRH following the incident to facilitate treatment of the injured, as reported by Dawn.
According to Geo News, Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Afaq Wazir confirmed that the rescue operation had concluded, with teams clearing the debris from the site.
“Rescue teams have cleared all the debris, and no more injured children are at the scene,” Wazir said as quoted by Geo News.
Earlier, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmed Faizi had said that rescue personnel were working to evacuate those trapped under the collapsed structure. He also confirmed that around 20 people, including students and teachers, had been transported to hospitals.
The tragedy triggered desperate efforts by parents and rescuers to locate children trapped beneath the rubble, as families rushed to the school after learning about the collapse.
Speaking to Dawn, Samiullah, a parent who reached the scene shortly after receiving news of the incident, said he managed to rescue three girls, all under the age of eight.
“I received a call from home at around 8:50 am and reached the site about 10 minutes later, at around 9 am. We have six children studying at the school,” he said.
Recalling the anxious moments at the site, he said he initially feared that his son, who had been attending a classroom on the ground floor beneath the collapsed first floor, had also died.
“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.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hameed directed the Peshawar Capital City Police Officer to supervise the rescue operation and also instructed traffic police to establish a “green corridor” to ensure the uninterrupted movement of ambulances, Dawn reported.
Police and rescue teams were directed to deploy all available resources during the emergency response.
The latest tragedy has renewed attention on recurring incidents of roof and building collapses in Pakistan, which are often attributed to poor safety standards and the use of substandard construction materials.
In July, three girls aged between three and 13 were killed when part of the outer wall of a government primary school near Umerkot collapsed, burying them under the rubble.
That same month, a child died and at least five others were injured when the roof of an under-construction private school building collapsed in Lahore's Baghbanpura neighbourhood.
In June, 14 children were killed after the roof of a private tuition centre collapsed in Lahore's Kahna area. The incident occurred less than two months after four children died and 20 people were injured in a classroom roof collapse at a private school in Dera Ghazi Khan.
A probe into the Dera Ghazi Khan incident found that construction work for an extension of the tuition centre's building was under way when the classroom roof collapsed, as reported by Dawn.
Other incidents have also been reported in recent months. 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 injured when the roof of an under-construction building collapsed in the Khawaspur locality of Lalamusa, Gujrat. The same month, two people were injured after a house roof collapsed in Lahore's Nishtar area.
In August, a couple died and their daughters were injured when the roof of their house in Shahzad Town, Islamabad, collapsed following three days of heavy rainfall.