A school roof collapse in Peshawar’s Afridi Abad locality killed 33 people, including 32 children aged between seven and 14 and a female teacher, on Thursday.
Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) spokesperson Muhammad Asim confirmed that the death toll had risen to 33 from an earlier figure of 28. He said 20 injured children had been brought to the hospital, most of whom had since been discharged. Three children suffering from severe head injuries remained under treatment.
Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Afaq Wazir confirmed that the rescue operation had concluded after teams cleared the debris and found no further injured children at the site.
The incident occurred at Al-Khair School, where students were attending classes when the roof collapsed, trapping children beneath the debris, according to the deputy commissioner’s office.
A rescue official told AFP that the roof of an upper floor collapsed onto the students, causing the building’s two storeys to crumple. Peshawar Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Dr Mian Saeed Ahmed said the building had a weak structure and that additional construction had placed excessive weight on the roof.
Following the incident, an emergency was declared at Lady Reading Hospital to facilitate the treatment of the injured.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi expressed grief over the loss of lives and sought a detailed report into the incident. He directed the authorities to determine the cause of the collapse and ensure the provision of the best possible medical care to the injured children.
In a statement on his X account, the governor also ordered a structural safety audit of educational institutions across the province to identify potential risks and ensure immediate corrective measures.
“We cannot allow the safety of our children to be compromised,” Kundi said.
Separately, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police Zulfiqar Hameed directed the Peshawar CCPO to oversee the rescue operation. He also instructed traffic police to establish a green corridor to ensure the uninterrupted movement of ambulances.
Police and rescue teams were directed to use all available resources during the emergency, according to an official statement.
Meanwhile, Samiullah, a parent who rushed to the school after learning about the collapse, told local media outlet, Dawn that he had rescued three girls, all under the age of eight.
He said he received a call from home at around 8:50am and reached the site approximately 10 minutes later. Six of his children were enrolled at the school.
Samiullah said he initially feared that his son, who was in a ground-floor classroom beneath the collapsed upper floor, had also died. However, his son had left the classroom to drink water before the collapse.
The incident has prompted calls for a thorough investigation into the building’s structural safety and urgent measures to prevent similar tragedies at educational institutions across the province.
