School Roof Collapse in Peshawar Kills at Least 27 Students and One Teacher

The roof of a two-storey private school in Peshawar collapsed on Thursday morning while classes were under way, killing at least 27 students and one female teacher. Hospital and rescue officials said the death toll could still rise as teams continued to clear debris from the Al-Khair Education Center in the Dir Colony neighbourhood of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa capital.

Lady Reading Hospital spokesperson Mohammad Asim told reporters that 27 of the dead were children, most of them below the age of 13, and that one teacher had also died. Nineteen others remained injured, five of them in critical condition. An emergency was declared at the hospital as ambulances brought in the dead and wounded. Parents gathered outside both the school and the hospital seeking information.

Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmed Faizi said the control room received the first call at 8:48 a.m. Teams found that the roof of an upper section of the building had collapsed onto the floor below, crushing classrooms. District emergency officer Iftikhar Khan reported that at least 45 children had been pulled from the rubble by mid-morning, with more still feared trapped. Police chief Mian Saeed said about 110 students had been in the three affected classrooms when the structure failed; 47 had been accounted for at one early count.

Deputy Commissioner Afaq Wazir confirmed the collapse at Al-Khair School and ordered an investigation into the cause. Police arrested the school’s owner. Officials noted that building collapses are a recurring problem in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced and many structures use substandard materials. Heavy rainfall in recent days was cited by some local reports as a possible contributing factor, though the precise reason remains under inquiry.

President Asif Ali Zardari’s office issued a statement calling the incident heart-wrenching. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief and directed authorities to ensure medical care for the injured. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi ordered a detailed report on the cause and the provision of facilities for the wounded.

The school is a private establishment serving boys and girls in a congested residential area. Television footage showed crowds of residents and rescue workers in high-visibility vests moving debris by hand and with equipment, while ambulances navigated narrow streets. Several children were reported to have suffered head injuries from falling concrete and steel rods.

Pakistan has recorded multiple structural failures of schools and other public buildings in recent years, often linked to weak oversight of private construction. The Peshawar incident follows earlier warnings from provincial authorities about the condition of older private school buildings in the province. Authorities have not yet released the full list of names of the dead or injured.

Rescue operations were continuing as of early afternoon local time. Officials said the final toll would depend on whether additional bodies or survivors were located under the remaining sections of collapsed roof. An inquiry into building permissions, materials, and maintenance records for the Al-Khair centre has been opened by the district administration.