PESHAWAR, Pakistan: At least 27 children and a teacher were killed when part of a private school building collapsed during morning lessons in Peshawar on Thursday, with officials warning that the death toll could rise.
An upper floor of the Al-Khair Education Center gave way, bringing debris down onto classrooms below. Most of those killed were aged 13 or younger, according to Lady Reading Hospital, where many of the victims were taken.
Police and hospital officials reported 28 deaths. Some Pakistani broadcasters later put the toll at 29 or more as casualty figures continued to change.
Rescuers Search Classrooms By Hand
Television footage showed ambulances arriving as rescuers carried bloodied pupils from the wreckage.
The school is in a congested neighbourhood where narrow access prevented heavy machinery from reaching the building. Residents and emergency workers searched through the debris by hand, Al Jazeera reported.
“We have taken out at least 45 children,” district emergency officer Iftikhar Khan told Reuters, adding that others were reported to be trapped.
A rescue official said the collapse of a higher floor had brought down the ceiling above the pupils, causing both storeys to fall.
Lady Reading Hospital declared an emergency. Spokesperson Mohammad Asim said about 20 injured children had been admitted, including five in critical condition, Dawn reported.
One parent, Samiullah, told the newspaper that he received a call at about 8.50am and arrived within 10 minutes. He helped pull three girls from the rubble.
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His son survived because he had stepped out of his ground-floor classroom to get water moments before the collapse.
Police Blame Weak, Overloaded Structure
Peshawar police chief Mian Saeed said 110 pupils had been in three classrooms when the building gave way. He attributed the collapse to additional construction that had placed excessive weight on an already weak structure.
“It was a weak building structure,” Saeed said. “Its roof was overweight with construction on a weak structure that caused the collapse.”
Geo News reported that the school’s owner had been arrested. School officials did not immediately comment.
Authorities ordered an investigation, with provincial education secretary Inayatullah Waseem directing the head of the Private Schools Regulatory Authority to submit a report by Friday, according to Geo News.
The inquiry will need to establish how the building was approved for school use, whether the additional construction was authorised and when the premises were last inspected.
Leaders Demand Answers
President Asif Ali Zardari described the tragedy as heart-wrenching and called for a full investigation, alongside checks to ensure school buildings across Pakistan meet safety standards.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered authorities to accelerate rescue and relief efforts.
“The loss of precious lives of innocent children is an extremely painful tragedy,” said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, who requested a detailed report.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar wrote on X: “Our children are our most precious asset, and every such loss is a tragedy for the entire country.”
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The deaths bring fresh grief to a city still associated with the December 2014 attack on the Army Public School, where militants killed more than 140 people, most of them pupils.
School Safety Concerns Extend Beyond Pakistan
Thursday’s disaster adds to Pakistan’s record of deadly building collapses amid rapid and often poorly regulated urban construction.
In July 2025, 27 people died when a residential building collapsed in Karachi’s Lyari area.
The Peshawar tragedy also recalls a school collapse in Nigeria that raised similar concerns about structural safety and oversight.
In July 2024, the two-storey Saint Academy school in Busa Buji, near Jos in Plateau State, collapsed during morning classes, killing at least 22 pupils. A total of 154 people were reported trapped.
The Plateau State government blamed a weak structure and the school’s location near a riverbank. It urged other schools facing similar risks to close.
Poor enforcement of building regulations, substandard materials and inadequate maintenance have repeatedly been cited as factors in building failures in both countries.
The circumstances of individual collapses differ, but the central responsibility remains the same: ensuring that buildings are safe before children enter their classrooms.
In Peshawar, families now await an explanation of how a structure police described as weak and overloaded was allowed to accommodate more than 100 pupils.
