Multiple casualties reported following school roof collapse in Peshawar, Pakistan

Pakistan school roof collapse: At least 29 children, most of them below the age of 13, and a teacher were killed and more than 40 people injured when the roof of a private school collapsed in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Thursday, news agency PTI reported, citing police.

The incident occurred in Dir Colony in the inner city area, Peshawar Capital City Police chief Mian Saeed said. The owner of the three-storey school has been arrested, he said, adding that the roof was poorly constructed. The owner was operating the institution as an education trust, Saeed said.

A total of 110 children were enrolled at the school, and 30 students were present in classrooms on the upper floor when the roof collapsed, he said. District emergency officer Iftikhar Khan said more children were reported to be buried in the rubble. Rescue operations are underway to extricate bodies and take the injured to hospital, said government official Bilal Faizi.

Children killed in the incident were aged 13 or younger The deceased and the injured were rushed to the city's Lady Reading Hospital, its spokesperson, Mohammad Asim, said. He said that an emergency was declared at the hospital to treat the injured, adding that all the children killed in the incident were aged 13 or younger.

Peshawar Deputy Commissioner Afaq Wazir ordered a probe into the roof collapse. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep grief over the lives lost in the incident and extended his condolences to the bereaved families. He directed authorities that the wounded must be provided with the best possible medical treatment.

Governor Faisal Karim Kundi also expressed grief over the roof collapse.