At least 27 schoolchildren and a teacher have been killed after a school roof collapsed in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Thursday.
The incident occurred in Kahna suburb of the city, leaving five other persons injured. Emergency workers recovered the victims, who were mostly aged between seven and 11 years old, and authorities have taken two suspects into custody as investigations continue.
The spokesman for the emergency service Rescue 1122, Farooq Ahmed, confirmed that rescue operations were completed within one hour after a call was received at 16:45 local time.
According to the BBC, residents confirmed that the building was in poor condition. An uncle to one of the victims, identified as Zaheer, stated that tiles on the roof were being repaired while the students studied inside.
“Suddenly the roof collapsed on top of quite a few children…They put a lot of weight on the roof and that’s why this has happened”, Zaheer.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif, expressed his condolences immediately after the incident, directing authorities to provide the injured with every possible medical assistance.
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