Peshawar School Roof Collapse Kills 17 Students, Teacher

The roof of a private school in Peshawar collapsed during Thursday morning classes, killing at least 17 students and a teacher. Rescue teams were still searching the rubble as officials warned the death toll was expected to rise.

Stylised flat-vector editorial illustration of a cracked two-storey school building with a sagging roof and scattered rubble — clearly artwork, not a photograph — Illustration: WHAT TODAY?

The roof of a private school collapsed in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar on Thursday morning, killing at least 17 students and one teacher as rescue teams dug through the rubble for children feared still trapped beneath it.

The collapse happened during morning lessons at the Al Khair Education Centre in Dir Colony, in the inner-city area of Peshawar. According to rescue officials, the roof of an upper floor gave way and fell onto the classrooms below, causing both storeys to cave in.

Students and the teacher were brought dead to the city’s Lady Reading Hospital, where spokesman Mohammad Asim confirmed the casualties and said an emergency had been declared to treat the injured. More than three dozen people were hurt, some critically, and later reports put the number of injured at over 40.

Peshawar’s Capital City Police chief, Mian Saeed, said only 47 of the 110 students inside the building — most of them under the age of 13 — had been rescued in the hours after the collapse. He blamed a weak building structure, saying excessive weight from construction work on the roof had caused it to give way.

District emergency officer Iftikhar Khan said rescue teams had pulled at least 45 children from the debris and were continuing to search for more pupils believed to be buried underneath it.

The school’s owner was arrested following the disaster, police said, and Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Afaq Wazir ordered an investigation into the cause of the collapse.

Response

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed “deep sorrow and grief over the loss of precious lives,” extending his condolences to the bereaved families and directing authorities to ensure the injured received the best possible medical treatment. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi also expressed grief over the tragedy.

The death toll varied across reports through Thursday morning as the rescue operation continued, with some outlets reporting as many as 28 children and a teacher killed. Officials said the toll could rise further as debris was cleared.

Why it matters

The collapse is the latest in a series of fatal school-building failures in Pakistan. In July, a roof collapsed at a tutoring centre under construction in Lahore, killing four schoolchildren. Building collapses remain common across the country, where construction standards are often poorly enforced, substandard materials are used, and safety regulations are ignored to cut costs.

The Peshawar disaster raises urgent questions about the safety of private school buildings, many of which operate in converted or aging structures with little oversight. Whether the investigation ordered by the city administration leads to wider inspections of school buildings will be closely watched.

What’s next

Rescue operations were still under way at the site late on Thursday as teams worked to recover bodies and reach any survivors still trapped. The investigation ordered by the deputy commissioner is expected to establish whether the building was structurally approved for school use and why construction material was being stored on the roof.

Authorities will also face pressure to audit other private schools in the province for building safety — a step that has been promised after similar tragedies in the past but rarely enforced.

Pakistan