Roof collapse at Peshawar school kills at least 27 children and a teacher

What happened

The roof of a private school in Dir Colony, a neighbourhood of Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan, collapsed on Thursday, 15 October 2026, while classes were under way. The upper-floor roof gave way onto the floor below, and the debris came down on pupils in their classrooms. A hospital spokesman said at least 27 children and a female teacher had died, and more than 30 people had been injured, six of them in critical condition. All the children killed or injured were 13 or younger. Lady Reading Hospital declared an emergency to cope with the number of casualties.

Rescue and hospital response

Residents were among the first to reach the building, and rescue teams arrived within minutes of being alerted, according to witnesses. Rescue 1122 teams searched through the wreckage, clearing debris to reach people still trapped under the roof. Officials said more people could be under the rubble, and parents gathered outside the school and the hospital to ask about their children.

Iftikhar Khan, an emergency services representative, gave the rescue count at that point:

So far, we have pulled at least 45 children out from under the rubble.

Emergency operations continued while the number of people inside the building at the time remained unclear.

Figures rising across reports

Counts in the first reports were lower and varied by outlet. One report gave at least 20 children and a female teacher killed, another at least 21, and another 22 dead and 25 injured, citing hospital spokesman Muhammad Asim. Later reports carried the figure of at least 27 children and a teacher, and one put the total at 28 dead. The hospital's figures are the latest counts in the sources, and officials warned the toll could still rise.

Owner arrested, cause unclear

Police opened an investigation into why the roof fell. Peshawar police chief Saeed Ahmed said the school's owner had been arrested and that the building had weak structural support. The initial reports did not establish the cause of the collapse. Some children were still trapped in the rubble in the first reports, and the sources do not say how many people were inside when the roof gave way.

Building safety and earlier collapses

Building collapses recur in Pakistan, where construction rules are often poorly enforced and many buildings are made with low-quality materials. Safety standards are regularly set aside to lower costs. One report says four pupils died in July in Lahore when the roof of a school under construction collapsed. Another gives a different account of a Lahore collapse on 30 June at a private tuition centre, in which 14 children died. The accounts differ on date, place and toll, and the sources do not say whether the events are linked.