At least 28 students and a female teacher were killed after the roof of the Al-Khair Education Centre, a private school in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, collapsed on Thursday. Among the dead were six girls. More than 50 other people were injured in the disaster, with six of them reported to be in critical condition.
A rescue official stated that the ceiling came down on the students after the roof of a higher floor collapsed, crumpling two storeys. Rescuers searched the rubble for anyone still trapped as the death toll increased.
The country's prime minister has urged rescuers to speed up the search for survivors, and the incident has prompted checks of all schools. Building and roof collapses have become increasingly common in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced.