Peshawar (AsiaNews) – At least 28 people – 27 children and a teacher – died and a further 19 were injured today when the roof of Al Khair School in Dir Colony, Peshawar, collapsed. Most of the victims were aged 13, according to hospital reports. Dir Colony is a densely populated neighbourhood where narrow streets hampered rescue operations. The three-storey school is believed to have had around 110 pupils enrolled, with approximately 30 children in the upper-floor classrooms at the time the roof collapsed.
Teams from Rescue 1122, the police and Pakistani Army personnel took part in the rescue operation, extracting victims from the rubble and transporting the injured to hospitals. The authorities organised traffic diversions and an ambulance corridor to facilitate access for the emergency services.
Peshawar’s Deputy Commissioner, Afaq Wazir, subsequently confirmed that the rescue operation had concluded. “Rescue teams have cleared all the rubble and there are no longer any injured children at the scene,” he told Geo News.
The disaster has raised serious questions about building standards, building inspections and the enforcement of safety regulations in educational institutions.
The capital’s police chief, Dr Mian Saeed, said that the school’s owner had been detained and that an investigation into the collapse would be launched. The police indicated that investigators would examine the apparent structural deficiencies and determine whether building regulations had been breached.
In Pakistan, where many families rely on private schools for their children’s education, the incident has highlighted the importance of ensuring that financial constraints or inadequate supervision do not compromise pupils’ safety.
The families’ distress was described by Samiullah, a father who rushed to the school after receiving a phone call about the collapse. Speaking to the Dawn newspaper’s website, he said he arrived at around 9 am, some ten minutes after being informed of the incident. Six of his children attended the school.
“When I saw the building, I thought my son, who was in a classroom on the ground floor beneath the collapsed first floor, must have died too,” he said. His son, however, survived because he had left the classroom to go and drink some water. Samiullah also helped to rescue three girls, all under the age of eight.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his sorrow at the deaths, offered his condolences to the bereaved families and ordered the authorities to step up rescue efforts and provide the injured with the best possible medical care. President Asif Ali Zardari also expressed his grief and called for a thorough investigation into the causes of the collapse, urging the authorities to ensure that educational institutions comply with safety regulations.
