A morning of classes ended in catastrophe in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday, when the roof of a private school came crashing down on the children studying beneath it. At least 28 people — 27 students and one female teacher — were killed when the roof of the Al-Khair school collapsed in the city's Dir Colony neighbourhood. Hospital officials said most of the children were 13 or younger, and dozens more were injured, several critically. Rescue teams spent hours pulling bloodied students from the concrete rubble before declaring the operation over.
Table of Contents
- What happened
- The rescue effort
- Owner arrested, inquiry ordered
- A recurring tragedy
- Key takeaways
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Sources
- Related coverage
What happened
The collapse struck while students were seated in their classrooms. According to rescue officials cited by Dawn, the roof of an upper floor gave way and crashed through onto the first floor, pancaking two storeys of the building onto the classes below. Peshawar's deputy commissioner, Afaq Wazir, told Dawn that the Al-Khair school's roof had collapsed with the students trapped beneath the debris.
The private school sits in the densely populated Dir Colony area — also reported as the Afridi Abad locality — of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), the city's main trauma facility, bore the brunt of the casualties. Its spokesperson confirmed to Dawn that the death toll rose through the day to 28, including 27 students and one female teacher, while 19 others remained under treatment. Geo News put the toll slightly higher, reporting that 29 children and a female teacher had died, with two bodies taken to a second hospital. Early reports had suggested far fewer deaths; the number climbed as rescue teams worked through the wreckage.
The hospital said six of the victims were girls. Nearly all of the dead children were brought in already lifeless, according to LRH officials — a grim measure of how suddenly the collapse struck. At least five of the injured were in critical condition, and an emergency was declared at the hospital to treat the influx.
The rescue effort
Television footage from the scene showed ambulances queuing through the narrow streets of Dir Colony as volunteers and Rescue 1122 personnel hauled debris by hand. District emergency officer Iftikhar Khan said at least 45 children were pulled from the rubble. The capital city police officer, Dr Mian Saeed, said at one point that more than 40 people had been injured in total.
By Thursday afternoon, Deputy Commissioner Wazir confirmed to Geo News that the rescue operation had concluded: every section of the debris had been cleared and no more injured children remained at the scene. Traffic police had established a "green corridor" to keep ambulances moving unimpeded between the school and the hospitals, on the orders of the provincial police chief.
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif issued a statement expressing deep sorrow and grief over the loss of what he called precious lives, extending condolences to the bereaved families and praying they find the strength to bear the irreparable loss.
Owner arrested, inquiry ordered
Accountability moves began within hours. The capital city police officer said the owner of the private school — which operated as an education trust — had been arrested following the incident. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi called the deaths of innocent children an extremely painful tragedy and demanded a detailed report determining the cause of the collapse.
The provincial education secretary, Inayatullah Waseem, directed the managing director of the Private Schools Regulatory Authority to submit a report on the incident by Friday, signalling that the scrutiny will extend beyond this single building to the inspection regime for private schools across the province. As previously reported on Pakistan's emergency rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province has faced repeated governance strain this year — and its emergency services, as seen in coverage of the army Mushshak crash near Quetta, have been under constant pressure from overlapping crises.
A recurring tragedy
Roof and building collapses are depressingly common across Pakistan, where poor construction standards and shoddy materials turn ordinary buildings into death traps. In June this year, more than a dozen children were killed when the roof of a tutoring centre collapsed in the eastern city of Lahore. In 2025, a five-storey building collapsed in Karachi's Lyari area, killing 27 people and injuring 10. Thursday's disaster at the Al-Khair school is the latest entry in a pattern that safety advocates have warned about for years — one that again raises questions about who inspects the schools where millions of Pakistani children spend their days.
Key takeaways
- The roof of the private Al-Khair school in Peshawar's Dir Colony collapsed on Thursday morning while classes were in session.
- At least 28 people were killed — 27 students, most aged 13 or younger, and one female teacher; some reports put the toll at 30.
- Rescue teams pulled at least 45 children from the rubble; the operation was declared complete by Thursday afternoon.
- The school's owner has been arrested, and provincial authorities have ordered an inquiry into the cause.
- Deadly building collapses remain a recurring crisis in Pakistan amid weak construction oversight.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people died in the Peshawar school roof collapse?
Hospital officials confirmed at least 28 deaths: 27 students and one female teacher. Some reports, including Geo News, put the toll at 30. Dozens more were injured, with several in critical condition.
Which school collapsed in Peshawar?
The private Al-Khair school — also reported as the Al-Khair Education Centre — located in Dir Colony (also reported as Afridi Abad) in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
What caused the roof to collapse?
The cause is still under investigation. Rescue officials said the roof of a higher floor collapsed onto the first floor, which then gave way onto the classrooms. The school owner has been arrested and authorities have ordered a detailed report.
Have there been similar incidents in Pakistan before?
Yes. In June 2026, more than a dozen children died in a roof collapse at a tutoring centre in Lahore, and in 2025 a building collapse in Karachi's Lyari area killed 27 people. Weak construction standards and poor inspection are widely cited as causes.
Sources
- Dawn — original reporting on the collapse, rescue operation and official statements
- Geo News — casualty figures and arrest of the school owner
- The Business Standard (Reuters) — victim details and rescue account
