- Published
At least 33 pupils and a teacher have been killed after a school roof collapsed in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar, according to hospital officials.
More than a dozen others are injured, with some in a critical condition.
uncertain
some → publish → condition
Several children are feared to be trapped under the rubble.
asserted
children → fear → rubble
Emergency services were alerted to the incident at the private Al-Khair school in Dir Colony at 08:48 (03:48 GMT) on Thursday after lessons had begun, a rescue official said.
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official → alert → Thursday
He told the BBC the roof of an upper-floor classroom had collapsed, causing ceilings below to cave in as well.
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ceilings → tell → classroom
Warning: This article contains distressing details
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article → contain → details
The children in the affected [classrooms] were trapped under the debris," the official, Bilal Faizi, said.
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official → affect → debris
The school is located in a building that had been constructed on a temporary basis, according to emergency official Arif Khattak.
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that → locate → Khattak
Earlier reports suggested the affected classrooms were in a two-storey part of the building, but Peshawar police chief Mian Saeed later confirmed that classrooms on three floors had been brought down.
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classrooms → suggest → floors
There were about 30 pupils in the top class, 40 in the middle and 45 on the ground floor, he said.
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he → be → floor
It appears that when the roof of the upper-floor classroom collapsed, the falling rubble crashed through classrooms below, bringing their ceilings down too.
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rubble → appear → ceilings
Saeed said the entire structure, which had "substandard" roof slabs, was "overloaded" and beyond the limit of how much weight it could bear.
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it → say → weight
The Al-Khair school is in a narrow street which only one vehicle can pass through at a time - meaning it was difficult for rescue workers to reach the site and transport the injured to hospitals.
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workers → pass → hospitals
Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital reported 32 children and a teacher dead while Naseerullah Khan Babar Memorial Hospital reported one child dead.
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Hospital → report → child
An English teacher from a nearby school said he immediately rushed to the site with other local residents when he heard sirens and the sound of ambulances.
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he → say → ambulances
Together, they pulled out more than 20 children from the rubble, he said.
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he → pull → rubble
"I personally pulled out six children with my own hands.
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I → pull → hands
Most of them were alive and talking.
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Most → talk → them
But later it was found that they had passed away."
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they → find → ?
"There was a lot of blood," he said.
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he → be → blood
"One child said he was in a lot of pain.
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he → say → pain
His tongue had dried up in his mouth, [and he was] asking for water."
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he → dry → water
Sohail, another local resident, said he and others tried to pull children from under the rubble "using shovels".
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he → say → shovels
Police chief Mian Saeed said the building was still "extremely dangerous" and urged people to move away.
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building → say → people
"This is a case of gross negligence," he said.
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he → say → negligence
"We will examine whether there were any violations of building codes.
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We → examine → codes
We intend to conduct a thorough inquiry and gather all the facts."
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We → intend → facts
Saeed confirmed the school's owner had been arrested.
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owner → confirm → ?
The governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Faisal Karim Kundi, has also ordered a safety audit of all schools in the province to "identify potential risks and ensure that immediate corrective measures are taken wherever necessary".
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measures → order → risks
"We cannot allow the safety of our children to be compromised," he said.
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he → allow → children
Four months ago, fourteen children died after the roof of a private tuition centre near Lahore collapsed.
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roof → die → Lahore
And in August, 14 newborn babies were killed by a fire that ripped through a neonatal unit at a hospital in the capital, Islamabad, which an inquiry found lacked fire alarms and sprinklers.
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inquiry → kill → alarms
The Aporia
