At least 32 pupils and a female teacher died on Thursday when the roof of a private school collapsed in Pakistan.
Officials said another 45 people sustained serious or minor injuries in the disaster in Peshawar, a city in the country’s northwest.
Twelve of those killed were girls, while most of the victims—both dead and injured—were aged 13 or younger.
Three children remained in critical condition with head injuries, according to Mohammad Asim, a spokesperson for Lady Reading Hospital.
Asim said most of the 20 injured children taken to the hospital had received treatment and were discharged.
A rescue official said the roof of an upper level fell onto classrooms below, causing two storeys of the building to collapse and burying students beneath the wreckage.
The hospital declared an emergency as doctors and other medical staff worked to treat the injured.
The collapse occurred at 8.48am local time at the privately operated Al-Khair Education Center. Arif Khattak, regional director of the Rescue Department, said the recovery effort continued for four to five hours.
Several children were trapped under the rubble in the initial aftermath. Emergency services spokesman Bilal Faizi said rescuers removed debris piece by piece to reach them.
Witnesses said local residents were among the first to reach the school, which stands in a congested central Peshawar neighbourhood. Rescue teams arrived within minutes after the collapse was reported.
Twenty-eight pupils and a female teacher were killed when a private school roof collapsed in Pakistan on Thursday. Pictured: A rescuer carries a child during a search operation after the roof collapse at a school in Peshawar on October 15, 2026.
Army soldiers and rescue workers assemble at the site of the school roof collapse in Peshawar, Pakistan.
More than 50 people were injured in the collapse in Peshawar, with hospital officials saying six were believed to be in critical condition.
A man carries an injured boy away from the scene of the school roof collapse in Peshawar, Pakistan.
An ambulance carrying injured children leaves the area during the rescue operation.
Television images showed ambulances racing to the school as rescue workers pulled bloodied students from the rubble.
Television footage showed rescuers digging through the debris with their bare hands and carrying bloodied children to ambulances as relatives and local residents packed the narrow alley outside.
“We have so far taken out at least 45 children from the rubble,” district emergency officer Iftikhar Khan said.
Mahwish Zaman, an injured teacher, said the three-storey school had approximately 1,200 pupils enrolled from nursery through fifth grade.
Speaking from her hospital bed, Zaman told the Associated Press that she was teaching in her classroom when the roof gave way. She said it felt as though the sky had fallen before she lost consciousness and later woke in hospital.
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Resident Samiullah Khan said he rushed to the school after learning of the collapse and helped rescue three girls. His son, who attends the school, survived because he had stepped out of his classroom to drink water, he said.
Another resident, Mohammad Khan, said rescuers carefully removed debris, trying to reach children and staff feared to be 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.
Distraught relatives accused the school of ignoring concerns about the building’s condition and demanded accountability.
‘Make an example of them, a lesson for all, so that no one dares open a school just to make money without providing facilities,’ said Mohammad Zaman, who lost two nephews in the collapse.
The cause of the collapse was under investigation. Peshawar police chief Mian Saeed said that the school’s owner had been arrested.
Saeed had earlier 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.’
An injured boy receives medical treatment at Lady Reading Government Hospit
This photograph shows rescue workers during a search operation after a roof collapsed at a school in Peshawar
More than three dozen others were injured in the collapse in the northwestern city of Peshawar, with six believed to be in a critical condition, according to hospital officials
The cause of the collapse was under investigation. Peshawar police chief Saeed Ahmed said that the school’s owner had been arrested
The provincial government said a committee had been formed to investigate the cause.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi expressed sorrow and sought a report from the relevant authorities. He directed officials to provide the best possible medical care to the injured children.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also offered condolences to the bereaved families in separate statements.
Zardari called for a comprehensive investigation and stressed the need to ensure school buildings meet safety standards to prevent similar tragedies.
There was no immediate comment from school officials.
In July, a roof collapsed at a tutoring center 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.
