At least 29 people, including 28 students and a teacher, have been killed after the roof of a private school collapsed in Peshawar, northwestern Pakistan.
The incident occurred on Thursday at Al-Khair Education Centre in the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, leaving more than 50 people injured, according to authorities.
A spokesman for Lady Reading Hospital, Mohammad Asim, confirmed the casualties, saying some of the injured were in critical condition. He added that all the children killed or injured were aged 13 or younger.
The hospital declared an emergency as medical personnel attended to the wounded.
Rescue officials later said everyone trapped beneath the rubble had been recovered, bringing the search operation to an end.
Reporting from Islamabad, Al Jazeera correspondent Kamal Hyder said the school had approximately 350 registered students and warned that the casualty figures could rise as injured children remained under medical care.
Authorities have ordered an investigation to establish the cause of the collapse.
Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister, Ishaq Dar, expressed condolences to the affected families, describing the loss as a tragedy for the country.
“Our children are our most precious asset, and every such loss is a tragedy for the entire country. My heartfelt condolences and prayers are with the bereaved families,” Dar wrote in a post on X.
He added that the prime minister and government had taken the incident seriously, stressing that the safety and protection of children must remain a priority.
The collapse has left families mourning the loss of children, while authorities face the task of determining what caused the building failure and whether any safety measures were breached.
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