Peshawar: At least 28 students, most younger than 13, were killed in Pakistan on Thursday, along with a teacher, when a school roof collapsed during classes in the north-western city of Peshawar, authorities said, warning that the death toll could rise.

Television images showed ambulances rushing to the site at the privately run Al-Khair Education Centre school while rescuers pulled bloodied students from the rubble.

“We have taken out at least 45 children,” said district emergency officer Iftikhar Khan, adding that more children were reported to be buried in the rubble.

A hospital spokesman, Mohammad Asim, confirmed more than 50 people had been injured and some were in a critical condition.

All the children killed or injured were age 13 or younger, he said. The hospital declared an emergency as medical staff treated the wounded. Rescuers said that they were removing debris to reach those trapped.

According to witnesses, residents were among the first to reach the school in a congested neighbourhood in central Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Rescue workers arrived within minutes of being alerted, according to accounts from the scene.

A resident, Mohammad Khan, said rescuers carefully removed debris, trying to reach children and staff feared trapped beneath the collapsed roof. Outside the school and at the state-run Lady Reading Hospital, anguished parents sought information about their children, unsure whether they had survived.

A rescue official said the ceiling came down on the students after the roof of a higher floor collapsed, crumpling the two storeys. The cause of the collapse was under investigation.

Peshawar police chief Mian Saeed said he feared the death toll could rise as just 47 of the 110 students in three classrooms at the time had been rescued.

“It was a weak building structure,” Saeed added. “Its roof was overweight, with construction on a weak structure that caused the collapse.”

There was no immediate comment from school officials.

In Islamabad, President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed sorrow over the deaths and offered condolences to the bereaved families in separate statements.

“The entire nation shares the grief of the affected families in this hour of sorrow,” Zardari said.

He also called for a comprehensive investigation into the collapse and stressed the need to ensure school buildings meet safety standards to prevent similar tragedies.

In July a roof collapsed at a tutoring centre under construction in Lahore, killing four schoolchildren.

Building collapses are common in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced. Many structures are built with substandard materials, and safety regulations are frequently ignored, to reduce costs.

Reuters, AP

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