At least 34 children and a teacher killed after Pakistan school roof collapses onto pupils during morning lessons
Rubble and debris in Dir Colony, Peshawar. A private school roof collapsed without warning on Thursday morning in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least 17 students and leaving more than three dozen others injured.
A structurally weak three-storey school building in Peshawar gave way at 8:48am local time on Thursday, killing at least 34 pupils and a female teacher at the privately run Al-Khair Education Center in Dir Colony. Most victims were aged 13 or younger, with 12 of the dead being girls. Rescue workers spent nearly five hours pulling bloodied children from the rubble as anguished parents crowded outside Lady Reading Hospital seeking news of their children.
Police chief Mian Saeed said the building was weak and 'overloaded with construction on a weak structure', and the school's owner has been arrested.
Around 300 students were believed to be inside when the upper-floor roof caved in, crumpling two storeys; only 47 of 110 pupils in the affected classrooms had been rescued at one point.
'Make an example of them so no one dares open a school just to make money,' said Mohammad Zaman, who lost two nephews in the collapse.
