Families of children killed when a school roof gave way in Peshawar have demanded justice, a day after the disaster that claimed the lives of a woman teacher and 34 students. The building came down on Thursday morning, and most of the victims were younger than 14.
Relatives and residents gathered outside the school on Friday to mourn the dead. Officials blamed the collapse on dilapidated infrastructure, and the search for those trapped had been chaotic in the hours that followed.
Parents describe the loss of their children
Tailor Muhammad Wahab, whose 11-year-old nephew Hammad died in the accident, told AFP that the parents of all the children “must receive justice.” He appealed to the country’s rulers and said Hammad had been “doing well in school” before the tragedy.
One father showed an AFP reporter a photo on his mobile phone of his young daughter, who was dressed in red and gold and had died. Another parent, Asadullah, said he had lost a son, a nephew and three other close relatives. “The children were good students and often achieved top positions in their classes,” he said.
Rescuers describe chaos under the rubble
Residents and rescuers described frantic scenes as people tried to pull children out from beneath the debris. A man named Sohail said that panic spread through his family when his niece, who had escaped the building, arrived home and said it had collapsed.
Sohail said that when he reached the site he saw 10 to 15 children trapped with rubble piled up to their necks, and that they were pulled out quickly. Images released by emergency services showed rescue workers in high-visibility vests clearing debris and dirt.
Officials point to weak structure as leaders respond
A senior Peshawar official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media, said initial reports suggested the collapse was caused by “weak infrastructure.” The official said the school owner had been detained.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed “deep sorrow and grief over the loss of precious lives” in a post on X. President Asif Ali Zardari described the collapse as a “heartbreaking tragedy.”
Building collapses are common in Pakistan, largely because of poor safety standards and substandard construction materials. In June, more than a dozen children were killed when a roof collapsed at a tutoring centre in the eastern city of Lahore. In 2025, 27 people were killed and 10 injured when a five-storey building collapsed in the impoverished Lyari area of Karachi.
