At least 17 children and a teacher were killed and more than three dozen others were injured when the roof of a private school collapsed on Thursday in northwestern Pakistan, officials said.
The collapse occurred in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where emergency workers immediately launched an operation to clear rubble and reach survivors.
Bilal Faizi, a spokesman for the emergency services, said several children remained trapped beneath the debris as rescue teams worked to extricate them.
Mohammad Asim, a spokesman for the hospital receiving casualties, confirmed the death toll and injuries, noting that some of the injured were in critical condition.
The incident follows a collapse in July, when the roof of a tutoring centre under construction fell in Lahore, killing four schoolchildren.
Building collapses are frequent across Pakistan, where safety regulations are routinely neglected to cut expenses and construction standards are poorly enforced, often leading to the use of substandard materials.
