The roof of a private school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar collapsed on Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026, leaving at least 35 people dead — 34 children and a teacher — and more than 50 others injured.
Authorities and a hospital official called the deadliest incident of its kind in the country.
The children killed or hurt at Al-Khair school were between six and 12 years old, and the oldest victim was 14, Lady Reading Hospital spokesman Mohammad Asim said. The state-run hospital declared an emergency as medical staff treated the wounded, several of whom were in critical condition, he said.
The roofs of two classrooms gave way while second- and third-grade children sat inside with their teachers, emergency services spokesperson Bilal Faizi said. Ambulances and disaster management personnel reached the site from a nearby facility within five minutes of being alerted, and nearly 100 rescuers eventually joined the operation. Panicked, grieving parents were already trying to help when the crews arrived. Faizi credited the rapid evacuation with saving at least 40 lives, and said more than a dozen children escaped with minor injuries. Hours after the collapse, he said, everyone trapped beneath the rubble had been pulled out and the debris cleared.
Residents Among the First on Scene
Neighbors in the congested central Peshawar district reached the school before many others, according to witnesses. Zahir Hussain, who lives a couple of blocks away, was walking to work when he saw people running into the street, and he told CBS News that the first-period lesson had barely begun. “The building was not suitable for use as a school at all,” Hussain said, adding that the street outside was so narrow it slowed rescue teams trying to reach the site.
Samiullah Khan, a resident, said he rushed to the building and helped pull out three girls. His son, a student there, survived only because he had left his classroom to get a drink of water.
Ambulances Carried the Bodies Home
Announcements over mosque loudspeakers urged residents to gather for mass funeral prayers at the nearby Rehman Baba cemetery. Most of the children who died lived in Dir Colony, the neighborhood where the school stands, residents said, leaving families unsure which bereaved household to visit first. As mourners wept, ambulances carried the children’s bodies from the hospital back to their homes.
Mahwish Zaman, a teacher injured in the collapse, said from her hospital bed that roughly 1,200 students were enrolled at the school, from nursery through fifth grade. She was in her classroom when the roof came down, she said, and it felt as though the sky had fallen. She regained consciousness in the hospital.
A Roof Slab Built With Clay Tiles
Peshawar police chief Saeed Ahmed said officers arrested the school’s owner and described the three-story building as structurally weak. Police said the roof slab had been built using choka — thin, flat clay tiles or custom-tapered bricks — and that the structure appeared overloaded. After his arrest, the owner, Mohammad Khan, blamed rainfall for weakening one of the roofs, police said, cautioning that the investigation was still underway. A case would be registered, Ahmed said, and investigators would determine which building regulations had been violated.
With the building still in danger of further collapse, rescue teams moved people out immediately, police said. The provincial Department of Elementary and Secondary Education constituted a fact-finding committee and ordered it to report urgently. Javed Iqbal, managing director of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Private Schools Regulatory Authority, was named chairman, with Muhammad Farooq, deputy secretary for primary education, as a member; the panel is to nominate its third member and recommend measures to prevent similar disasters.
Audits Ordered for Every Provincial School
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Gov. Faisal Karim Kundi visited the school, sought a report on the cause and directed officials to give the injured children the best possible care. He also ordered a structural safety audit of every government and private educational institution in the province, with findings due within one week, and said the inquiry into the collapse would be finished within four days. Kundi said no school audit had been carried out because of negligence by the previous provincial government. Provincial government spokeswoman Samar Haroon Bilour praised the speed of the rescue response.
Building collapses are common in Pakistan, where construction standards are poorly enforced, many structures rely on substandard materials and safety rules are routinely ignored to cut costs. In July, the roof of a tutoring center under construction in Lahore fell in, killing four schoolchildren.
President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered condolences from Islamabad, called for a comprehensive investigation and said school buildings must meet safety standards. “The entire nation shares the grief of the affected families in this hour of sorrow,” Zardari said.
