Overview
- The roof of a multi‑storey private school in Peshawar collapsed onto lower classrooms on Thursday, killing 27 children and one teacher and leaving dozens injured, rescue and hospital officials said.
- Rescue 1122 teams, more than 60 rescuers and 16 ambulances worked at the scene and have concluded search operations while hospitals treat many wounded patients, several in critical condition.
- Peshawar police said they detained the school's owner at the site and provincial and federal officials, including the governor and prime minister, have ordered inquiries into the cause and responsibility for the collapse.
- Police and rescue directors described the building as structurally weak with an overloaded upper roof and said narrow streets delayed heavy machinery, complicating extraction of children from the rubble.
- The disaster echoes recent safety failures across Pakistan — including earlier school and residential collapses and a deadly hospital fire — and is likely to prompt tougher inspections and scrutiny of private school buildings.