PESHAWAR: At least 21 people, including 20 students and a female teacher, were killed and 21 others injured when the roof of a private school collapsed in Peshawar’s Afridi Abad locality on Thursday.

Lady Reading Hospital spokesperson Muhammad Asim confirmed to Dawn that 20 students — 18 boys and two girls aged between seven and 12 — were killed in the incident. A female teacher was also among the deceased, he said, adding that five of the injured were in critical condition.

An emergency was declared at the hospital, he added.

Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Afaq Wazir told Dawn that the roof of Al Khair School had collapsed, trapping students beneath the debris.

According to a statement issued by the deputy commissioner’s office, students were present in their classrooms when the incident occurred.

Rescue operations were under way, with personnel continuing to remove debris to recover those trapped beneath it, the statement added.

Earlier, LRH spokesperson Muhammad Asim had said that 17 students had been brought to the hospital dead. All the children were aged 13 or younger, he said, adding that another 17 injured students had been brought to the hospital.

Rescue 1122 spokesperson Bilal Ahmed Faizi had earlier said that rescue personnel transported around 20 people, including students and teachers, to hospitals. At the time, he reported four deaths, citing LRH.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi expressed grief over the deaths in the school roof collapse and sought a detailed report on the incident. He also directed the authorities to determine the cause of the collapse.

“The loss of precious lives of innocent children is an extremely painful tragedy,” he said, according to a statement, extending his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families.

He prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured children and directed the authorities concerned to provide them with the best possible medical facilities.

Separately, KP Inspector General (IG) Zulfiqar Hameed ordered Peshawar CCPO to oversee the rescue operation and directed the traffic police to establish a “green corridor” to ensure uninterrupted movement of ambulances.

Rescue and police teams were directed to utilise all available resources, a statement said.

“In this hour of grief, KP Police stands with the affected families,” the IGP was quoted as saying.

Speaking to Dawn, Samiullah, a parent who rushed to the site after hearing about the incident, said he had rescued three girls, all under the age of eight.

“I received a call from home at around 8:50am and reached the site about 10 minutes later, at around 9am. We have six children studying at the school,” he said.

“When I saw the building, I thought my son, who was in a ground-floor classroom beneath the collapsed first floor, had also died. However, he had left the classroom to drink water,” he added.

PM Shehbaz takes ‘serious notice’: DPM Dar

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken “serious notice” of the incident, as he offered his condolences to the bereaved families in a post on X.

“Our children are our most precious asset, and every such loss is a tragedy for the entire country,” DPM Dar said.

He added that “ensuring the safety and protection of our children must remain paramount”.

“All necessary measures must be taken to provide immediate assistance to those affected, ensure the best possible medical care for the injured, and strengthen safety standards in our schools to prevent such tragedies from recurring.”

President Asif Ali Zardari also expressed “profound shock and grief” over the tragic school incident in a statement on X.

“This heart-wrenching tragedy has plunged the entire nation into shock,” he said, extending his condolences to the families of the children killed.

He directed relevant authorities to provide top-notch medical facilities to the injured and extend assistance to the affected families. “In this hour of sorrow, the entire nation shares equally in the grief of the affected families,” he said.

To prevent such tragic incidents in the future, President Zardari emphasised the need for a comprehensive investigation to determine the cause of the incident and to ensure that all educational institutions’ buildings were following safety standards.

Building and roof collapses are common in Pakistan, often attributed to poor safety standards and the use of substandard construction materials.

In July, three girls, aged 3 to 13, were killed after a portion of the outer wall of a government primary school near Umerkot collapsed and the rubble fell on them.

The same month, a child died, and at least five other people were injured after the roof of an under-construction private school building collapsed in Lahore’s Baghbanpura neighbourhood.

In June, 14 children lost their lives when the roof of a private tuition centre collapsed in Lahore’s Kahna area. 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 in Dera Ghazi Khan collapsed.

A probe into the DG Khan incident revealed that construction for an extension of the tuition centre’s building was under way when the roof of the classroom collapsed.

Last week, two men died in Pakpattan after the roof of their house collapsed during heavy rain and a windstorm.

In June, a labourer was killed, and three others were injured when the roof of an under-construction building collapsed in Khawaspur locality of Lalamusa, Gujrat. The same month, two people were injured after the roof of a house collapsed in Lahore’s Nishtar area. In August, a couple was killed, and their daughters were injured after the roof of their house in Shahzad Town, Islamabad, collapsed following three days of heavy rainfall.

More to follow.