Pakistan School Roof Collapse Kills 28, Leaves Dozens Injured

At least 28 people, including 27 children and a female teacher, were killed when the roof of a private school collapsed in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday. More than three dozen others were injured, according to a hospital spokesperson, as rescue teams continued searching the debris for survivors.

Several children remained trapped beneath the rubble in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, emergency services spokesperson Bilal Faizi said. Mohammad Asim, a hospital spokesperson, confirmed the casualties and said some of the injured were in critical condition. All the children killed or wounded were aged 13 or younger, he added. The hospital declared an emergency to provide immediate treatment to the injured, while rescue workers cleared the debris in an effort to reach those still trapped.

Witnesses said local residents were among the first to arrive at the school in a densely populated neighbourhood in central Peshawar. Emergency responders reached the scene within minutes of receiving the alert. Resident Mohammad Khan said rescue workers were carefully removing the rubble in an attempt to reach children and school staff believed to be trapped beneath the collapsed roof.

Outside the school and at the state-run Lady Reading Hospital, distressed parents gathered desperately seeking information about their children and waiting to learn whether they had survived.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the collapse. Peshawar police chief Saeed Ahmed said the school's owner had been arrested, adding that the building was structurally weak.

In a similar incident in July, a roof collapsed at a tutoring centre under construction in Lahore, killing four schoolchildren.

Building collapses remain a recurring problem in Pakistan, where construction standards are often inadequately enforced. Many buildings are constructed using substandard materials, while safety regulations are frequently disregarded to cut costs, increasing the risk of deadly accidents.