PESHAWAR, Pakistan — At least 33 children and a teacher were killed Thursday when the roof of a classroom at the private Al-Khair school in Dir Colony collapsed, bringing down ceilings on floors below, BBC News reported, citing hospital figures.
Emergency services were alerted at 08:48 local time after lessons had begun. Rescue official Bilal Faizi told the BBC an upper-floor roof failed and trapped pupils under debris. Peshawar police chief Mian Saeed said classrooms on three floors came down — about 30 pupils on top, 40 in the middle and 45 on the ground — and that “substandard” roof slabs were overloaded.
Lady Reading Hospital reported 32 children and a teacher dead; Naseerullah Khan Babar Memorial Hospital reported one more child dead. More than a dozen others were injured, some critically, and several children were feared still trapped. The school sat in a temporary building on a narrow street that slowed ambulances, the BBC said.
Officials said the structure had been built on a temporary basis. Neighbors and teachers from nearby schools joined the rescue as sirens filled Dir Colony.
Sources: BBC News
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