At least 34 children and a teacher were killed when the roof of a private school collapsed on Thursday in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, hospital authorities and police said.
An emergency was declared at the hospital to treat the injured, Asim said, adding that all of the children killed or injured in the incident were age 13 or younger. In June, 14 children were killed when the roof of a private tuition centre collapsed in Lahore. The incident had come less than two months after four children were killed and 20 people injured after the roof of a classroom at a private school collapsed in Dera Ghazi Khan district.
The incident occurred in Dir Colony in the congested inner city area, Peshawar Capital City Police chief Mian Saeed said. The owner, who was operating the institution as an education trust, has been arrested, he said, adding that the roof of the three-storey building was poorly constructed. The building was located in narrow streets, which made rescue operations difficult, according to the city police chief.
Asim said 20 injured children were also brought to the LRH hospital. Most of them were discharged after first aid. Three critically injured children, who sustained head injuries, had been admitted to the hospital, he added.
Thirty-two children and a teacher were brought dead to the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) in Peshawar, hospital spokesperson Muhammad Asim told PTI.
