At least 34 people were killed when part of a private school building collapsed in Peshawar, Pakistan, according to reporting from the scene and local authorities. The dead included 33 students and one teacher, while at least 19 other people were injured. Five of those injured were reported to be in critical condition.
The collapse happened at Al-Khair school in the Dir Colony neighbourhood on October 15. Emergency services were alerted at 08:48 local time. Rescue teams spent four to five hours searching the debris before concluding their operation, while residents and school staff also helped pull children from the rubble.
Access complicated the response. The school stands on a narrow street, limiting the ability of rescue vehicles and personnel to reach the building. Provincial authorities asked members of the public to keep roads and hospitals clear so ambulances could move patients without further delays.
Police described the structure as extremely dangerous after the initial collapse and warned that more of it could fall. An official said the roof slabs were substandard and that the building had been overloaded. Police attributed the disaster to gross negligence and arrested the school's owner, but a promised inquiry had not yet established legal responsibility.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered a thorough investigation and directed officials to provide the best available medical care to survivors. Provincial Governor Faisal Karim Kundi said the prime minister also instructed authorities to examine every aspect of the incident and pursue those responsible under the law.
The All Pakistan Private Schools' Federation called for strict action against both the owner and any public officials whose failures allowed an unsafe building to continue operating. It proposed an emergency safety framework that would restrict overcrowded classrooms and the use of cramped or hazardous structures.
The scale of private education makes the safety questions national rather than local. Official Pakistani estimates cited by the BBC indicate that nearly half of the country's students attend private schools. An education expert told the broadcaster that oversight of teaching standards and building safety is weak and seldom enforced.
The confirmed toll rose during the day as rescuers and hospitals accounted for victims. Early reports cited 27 students and a teacher, but the later hospital and official figures put the total at 34. Authorities have not yet published the results of structural inspections or explained how the building was permitted to operate in its reported condition.
