Peshawar school tragedy: 21 Students, teacher killed in roof collapse
At least 21 children were killed and dozens injured after the roof of a private school collapsed in Dir Colony, Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Thursday.
More than 30 injured people were reportedly taken to Lady Reading Hospital for treatment.
Rescue teams are using heavy machinery to search for children and school staff trapped beneath the debris, amid fears that the death toll could rise.
According to Lady Reading Hospital officials, 17 children were brought to the facility dead.
Rescue officials said more than 25 injured children had been shifted to the hospital’s emergency ward for urgent medical care.
Following the collapse, Rescue 1122 personnel and residents began removing the rubble in an effort to reach those trapped beneath the debris.
Provincial Information Adviser Samar Haroon Bilour expressed grief over the incident and offered condolences to the affected families.
She directed hospital authorities to ensure timely and effective medical treatment for the injured children.
Praising the rescue teams’ response, she said the government was mobilising all available resources to recover those trapped.
The incident follows several other fatal collapses involving educational buildings in Pakistan this year.
On February 21, an eighth-grade student died when the roof of a government girls’ high school under construction collapsed in Sialkot.
On May 7, four students were killed when a classroom roof collapsed at a private school in Dera Ghazi Khan.
On June 30, 14 children died after the roof of a tuition centre collapsed in Lahore’s Kahna area.
On July 2, an eight-year-old child died when part of a school building under construction collapsed in Lahore’s Baghbanpura area.