Pakistan’s school roof collapse kills 27 students, 1 teacher

Almost 30 students and a teacher were killed on Thursday when the roof of a private school in Peshawar, Pakistan collapsed, according to local officials. Seventeen children were brought to Lady Reading Hospital in the city, along with the body of a female teacher, Mohammad Asim, a hospital spokesperson told CBS News. Some survivors were also admitted in critical condition.

The disaster occurred at the Al-Khair Education Center in Peshawar's southwest Dir district, with at least 29 people dead, as reported by local officials. The cause of the disaster remained unclear, although a witness told CBS News that the building did not appear suitable for use as a school. At least 45 children were taken out, according to the district emergency officer, Iftikhar Khan, and Zahir Hussain, who lives nearby, saw people running out onto the street when he was walking to work.

The school was in a narrow, two-story residential building on a narrow street, and catered mainly to children from low-income families. The street made it difficult for rescue teams to reach the site quickly. Parents and families were in unbearable pain, and Hussain called it a "heavy tragedy for parents and the entire Dir colony." Authorities have not yet provided a cause for the collapse.