School Roof Collapse in Peshawar Kills 34 People, Mostly Students
Parts of a school building collapsed in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing at least 33 students and one teacher, with 19 others injured including five in critical condition. A police official said the school had poor-quality roof materials and the structure was overloaded beyond safe limits. The school's owner has been arrested as authorities investigate whether building and safety standards were broken.
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A serious structural collapse at a school in Peshawar, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, has killed at least 34 people, including 33 students and a teacher, according to the BBC. A hospital spokesperson reported that at least 19 more people were injured, five of them in critical condition.
Photographs from the scene showed the extent of the destruction. One eyewitness described seeing children trapped beneath rubble with debris piled up to their necks. A police official told the BBC that the school, which stood on a very narrow street, had substandard roof slabs and that the building's entire structure had been carrying too much weight.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has promised a thorough investigation into the deaths. The owner of the school has already been arrested while authorities examine how the building collapsed and whether construction or safety standards were violated. This tragedy has raised fresh concerns about building safety standards at schools across Pakistan, where poor-quality construction has previously caused fatal collapses.
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