At Least 33 Students and Teachers Killed in Pakistan School Roof Collapse

Rescue officials fear more people may be buried under the rubble in the city of Peshawar in the northwest.

By Bilal Ahmad and Azizullah Khan, BBC Urdu, reporting from Peshawar and Phelan Chatterjee

At least 33 students and a teacher were killed when the roof of a school in the northwestern city of Peshawar collapsed, according to Pakistani hospital officials.

More than a dozen other people have been injured, some of them are in serious condition.

Emergency services were called to Al Khair private school in Deir Mustamara at 08:48 (03:48 GMT) on Thursday after classes had started, rescue official Bilal Faizi told the BBC.

He said the ceiling of an upstairs classroom had collapsed, causing the ceilings below to cave in and trapping children under the debris.

By announcing the arrest of the owner of the school, Mian Saeed, the head of the police, promised that a detailed investigation would be carried out on "whether there were construction violations".

Warning: This article contains disturbing details

An English teacher from a nearby school said he immediately rushed to the scene with other local residents after hearing sirens and an ambulance.

Together they pulled more than 20 children from the rubble, he said.

"I personally pulled out six children with my hands. Most of them were alive and talking. But later it turned out that they had died."

"There was a lot of blood," he said. One of the children said that he was in a lot of pain, his tongue was dry in his mouth and he wanted water.

Sohail, another local resident, said he and others tried to pull the children out from under the rubble "using shovels".

According to Aref Khatak, the emergency manager, the school building was built temporarily.

Earlier reports indicated that the destroyed classrooms were located in a two-story section of the building, but Peshawar Police Chief Mian Saeed later confirmed that the classrooms were destroyed on three floors.

He said there were about 30 students in the top class, 40 in the middle and 45 in the ground floor.

It appears that when the roof of the classroom on the top floor collapsed, the falling debris crashed through the classrooms below, bringing down their roofs as well.

Saeed said the entire structure, which had "non-standard" roof slabs, was "excessive" and beyond the weight-bearing limit.

The school is located on a very narrow street, which meant that it was difficult for rescuers to reach the place and take the injured to the hospital.

Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital reported the death of 32 children and a teacher, while Nasirullah Khan Babar Memorial Hospital reported the death of one child.

The police chief said the building was still "very dangerous" and urged people to stay away.

Faisal Karim Kundi, the governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has ordered a safety inspection of all schools in the province to "identify potential hazards and ensure that immediate corrective action is taken if necessary."

"We cannot allow the safety of our children to be compromised," he said.

In June, fourteen children died after the roof of a private educational center near Lahore collapsed.

And in August, 14 newborns died in a fire in a neonatal ward at a hospital in the capital Islamabad, which an investigation found lacked fire alarms and sprinklers.