At least 29 people were killed when the roof of a school collapsed in northwestern Pakistan

At least 28 students and a teacher were killed in the incident at Al Khair Educational Center, a private school in Peshawar.

The roof of a school in northwestern Pakistan has collapsed, killing at least 34 students and a teacher and injuring more than 45 others, officials and aid officials said.

The incident occurred on Thursday at Al Khair Educational Center, a private school in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

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End of list Mohammad Asim, a spokesman for Lady Reading Hospital, where many of the victims were taken, said the casualties included 12 girls and a female teacher. He added: Some of the injured are in serious condition.

Asim said most of the children killed or injured were between six and 12 years old, and the oldest was 14 years old. The hospital has declared a state of emergency as medical staff treat the injured.

Arif Khatak, Regional Director of Rescue, said that at least 45 children suffered from minor injuries to severe shocks.

Al Jazeera's Kamal Haider, reporting from Islamabad, said: "The school was too weak to hold up the three-story structure with steel beams, mud bricks, and in some cases, wooden beams.

Television footage showed rescue workers clawing through the rubble with their bare hands and carrying bloodied children to waiting ambulances as residents thronged the narrow alley where the school was located.

An emergency official said an upper floor roof collapsed onto the classrooms below, crumpling two floors of the building.

Hours after the collapse, rescue officials said all the people trapped under the rubble had been found. Emergency services spokesman Bilal Faizi said nearly 100 paramedics assisted in the operation, including parents who helped crews.

He believes that the quick evacuation saved the lives of 40 people. He said that more than ten children suffered minor injuries.

Peshawar Police Chief Saeed Ahmad said that the owner of the school has been arrested. He said: The building is structurally weak.

However, after the arrest, the owner, Mohammad Khan, blamed this week's rains for weakening one of the roofs, police said, adding that an investigation was still underway.

Al-Jazeera's Haider said the incident has raised several concerns, as there have been similar cases in the past.

"In June, there was an incident in the city of Lahore, capital of Punjab province, which claimed 14 lives," he said. So there are questions as to why the government is not enforcing those building codes and regulations.

The provincial government said that a committee has been formed to investigate the cause of the collapse of the roof of this three-story building.

In Islamabad, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while expressing regret for the dead, expressed their condolences to the bereaved families. Statements

Zardari said: "The whole nation shares the grief of the affected families in this hour of sorrow."