At least 27 students, most younger than 13, have been killed after a school roof collapsed during classes in Peshawar, north-west Pakistan. A teacher also died in the incident, according to local authorities, who said the death toll could rise.
Television images showed ambulances rushing to the privately run al-Khair Education Center school while rescuers pulled bloodied students from the rubble.
“We have taken out at least 45 children,” said district emergency officer Iftikhar Khan, adding that more children were reported to be buried in the rubble.
Rescue teams were working to recover bodies and take the injured to hospital, said the government official Bilal Faizi.
Map locating the school and hospital in Peshawar
Twenty of the injured were taken to the city’s Lady Reading hospital, its spokesperson, Mohammad Asim, said.
A rescue official said the ceiling came down on the students after the roof of a higher floor collapsed, crumpling the two storeys.
Authorities said an investigation had been ordered to determine the cause.
The Peshawar police chief, Mian Saeed, said the death toll could rise as just 47 students had been rescued out of 110 who had been in the three affected classrooms at the time of the collapse.
“It was a weak building structure,” Saeed added. “Its roof was overweight with construction on a weak structure that caused the collapse.”
There was no immediate comment from school officials.