At least 16 children were killed on Thursday when the roof of a private school collapsed in Peshawar’s Dir Colony, turning an ordinary school day into one of the year’s deadliest building disasters in Pakistan.
The administration of Lady Reading Hospital confirmed the deaths, saying 20 children had been brought to the hospital after the incident. The toll was expected to change as rescue teams continued searching the rubble for children and staff still trapped beneath it.
What happened at Al Khair School System
The roof of Al Khair School System came down while classes were in session, trapping children and school staff under the debris. Parents rushed to the site as rescue officials launched a full search-and-rescue operation.
Rescue teams worked through the rubble to recover those still buried. The cause of the collapse was not immediately known, and officials had not said whether the building had undergone any recent safety inspection.
Early reports put the death toll lower, with initial accounts speaking of seven dead. The Lady Reading Hospital administration’s later confirmation of 16 deaths suggests the scale of the tragedy grew as rescuers reached deeper into the debris.
Death toll may still rise
Lady Reading Hospital, the main public hospital in Peshawar, received 20 children from the site. Rescue officials said several children were still trapped under the debris when the operation began, and feared more casualties as the search continued.
Each passing hour narrowed the chances for those buried, while families gathered outside the hospital waiting for news.
A recurring tragedy
Thursday’s collapse is not an isolated incident. About three months ago, the roof of a tutoring centre collapsed in Lahore, killing at least 14 children, according to Associated Press reporting. In that case, neighbours were the first to respond, digging through debris with shovels and bare hands before rescuers arrived.
Building collapses are common in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced. Structures are frequently built with substandard materials, and safety regulations are sometimes ignored to reduce costs.
The pattern is grim: schools and tuition centres operating in old or poorly built structures, with inspections rare and enforcement weaker still.
The pattern extends beyond schools. In Karachi, a building collapse killed 16 people as rescue teams worked through the rubble amid warnings that the structure had been declared unsafe — another case of weak enforcement turning a predictable risk into mass casualties. (Read our earlier report: Karachi Building Collapse: 16 Dead as Rescue Continues Amid Warnings of Unsafe Structures.)
Questions investigators must answer
The collapse raises immediate questions about who approved the school building, whether it met construction standards, and how often private schools in Peshawar are actually inspected.
Authorities had not announced an inquiry by the time of publication. In previous cases, grief has turned to anger, with residents blaming owners for holding classes in old and unsafe buildings and demanding strict punishment for those responsible.
For the families in Dir Colony, those questions come later. On Thursday, the only concern was the rescue operation — and the children still under the rubble.
