A roof collapse at a private school in Peshawar, Pakistan, killed 32 children and a teacher on Thursday morning, and a grieving community is now demanding answers from the people who ran it.
The roof of a two-storey building at Al Khair Public School in the Dir Colony neighbourhood gave way while classrooms were full, shortly after heavy overnight rainfall. Rescue workers said one roof collapsed onto another, crushing the classroom below and trapping children beneath the rubble. The dead were mostly younger than 14; a 25-year-old female teacher was also among the fatalities. Officials said dozens more pupils were injured, and the death toll rose to 33 by Thursday evening.
Rain blamed, negligence alleged
Rescue officials attributed the collapse to rain that left the roof structurally unstable, while health officials and a senior Peshawar official pointed to dilapidated infrastructure as the deeper cause. Building collapses are a familiar problem in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced and many structures are built with substandard materials.
Residents were the first to reach the scene, pulling children from debris piled neck-high before ambulances arrived, eyewitnesses said. The clearance operation concluded on Thursday afternoon after every person trapped had been pulled out, according to emergency services. The province’s Rescue 1122 teams said around 50 children were injured, several remaining under medical observation.
Arrests and a citywide survey
The school’s owner and its principal have been placed under arrest while an inquiry investigates the collapse and any negligence, the capital city police officer said. The Peshawar deputy commissioner confirmed that students were present in their classrooms when the building failed and said authorities would survey every private school building in the city for safety. The provincial education secretary directed the Private Schools Regulatory Authority to submit a report within 24 hours.
President Asif Ali Zardari expressed condolences and called for a thorough inquiry. On Friday, dozens of relatives gathered outside the school demanding justice: one uncle said he had lost his 11-year-old nephew, who had been doing well in school, while another father said he had lost a son, a nephew and three close relatives. Their grief lands alongside other public anger over buildings and housing this week, echoing thousands marching in Madrid after the death of the woman at the heart of Spain’s housing protests, and as diplomacy grinds on in Ukraine, where Zelenskiy says European partners expect a seat at US talks.
