A roof collapse at a private school in Peshawar’s Dir Colony killed students and left dozens injured on Thursday morning, the first major civilian safety disaster in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the province was placed under governor’s rule, and Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has formally ordered a report on the cause.
The collapse happened at a school building in Dir Colony on College Road while classes were in session, according to Dunya News and Dawn. Rescue 1122 teams rushed to the site with heavy machinery to clear the debris, and the Pakistan Army later joined the rescue effort, Samaa reported. Officials warned that more children could still be trapped under the rubble as the operation continued through the day.
Death toll still being counted
The number of dead was still moving as rescue workers kept digging. A spokesman for Lady Reading Hospital, Muhammad Asim, told reporters that 17 students had been brought dead to the hospital and that an emergency had been declared there, with all the children aged 13 or under, according to Dawn and Reuters.
As the operation continued, other outlets reported higher figures. Dunya News put the toll at 22, comprising 21 students and one female teacher. ARY News reported 21 children and one teacher killed with 47 injured, while Geo News reported 21 children and one teacher dead with more than 20 injured, and the capital city police officer Dr Mian Saeed placed the number of injured at over 40. Every figure remains provisional until the rescue operation concludes and the hospital confirms a final count.
Governor Kundi orders a report
What sets this tragedy apart from earlier disasters is the political setting in which it happened. The collapse is the first major safety failure since the emergency proclamation President Asif Ali Zardari issued on October 11 under Articles 232 and 234, which suspended the PTI-led provincial government and handed the province to the governor.
Governor Faisal Karim Kundi expressed sorrow over the loss of life and directed the authorities to determine the cause of the collapse, Dunya News reported. Kundi, who is running the province through an 11-member advisory council, sought a formal report on the incident, making this the first accountability test of the new emergency-era administration.
The question now is who answers for the condition of school buildings. Under normal circumstances, the provincial education department would face the inquiry. With the assembly suspended and the chief minister in custody, responsibility runs directly to the governor’s setup and the federal monitoring committee headed by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar that is overseeing day-to-day governance in the province.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the authorities to provide all possible medical assistance to the injured and to expedite the rescue work, according to Dunya News and Geo News. KP Information Adviser Samar Haroon Bilour also directed that the best available medical facilities be provided to the injured children.
Cause still unconfirmed
No official cause has been established yet. Officials told WE News that the school building had been damaged by recent rain, while police are investigating whether old or substandard construction, rain damage, or a combination of both weakened the structure, Pakhtun Digital reported.
Rescue workers faced an additional obstacle at the scene: narrow streets around the school slowed the movement of heavy machinery, according to a statement by the city police quoted by ARY News. Dawn noted that roof and building collapses recur in Pakistan, most often because of poor safety standards and substandard construction material.
What happens next
The governor’s report will be the first official account of why the building failed and whether the school had been inspected or flagged before the collapse. Families in Dir Colony are also waiting to learn whether the inquiry will extend beyond this one building to a wider safety audit of schools across Peshawar, where many private institutions operate in converted residential buildings never designed for classroom use.
For the governor’s-rule administration, the handling of this inquiry will be watched closely. The emergency was imposed on the argument that the previous provincial government had disengaged from its responsibilities. The response to this collapse will show whether the new setup can deliver the governance it promised, starting with the most basic duty of all: keeping children safe at school.
Follow PakMirror’s national news coverage for updates as the rescue operation concludes and the official inquiry reports back.
