ISLAMABAD: At least 29 people, among them 27 children, were killed while over a dozen others were injured on Thursday when the roof of a private school collapsed in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, rescue and hospital officials said.

The latest incident, which took place at Peshawar’s Dir Colony, has renewed concerns about the safety of private educational institutions in Pakistan, although it was not immediately clear what caused the roof to collapse or whether the school had undergone structural safety inspections.

Building collapses have repeatedly caused mass casualties in Pakistan, where aging structures, unauthorized construction and inadequate enforcement of building regulations pose serious risks, particularly in densely populated urban areas.

“Twenty-nine have so far been killed and over a dozen injured have been shifted to LRH following the Dir Colony incident,” Muhammad Asim, a spokesperson at the Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) said in a statement. “Two female teachers are among those killed.”

The identities and ages of those killed were not immediately available. Authorities had yet to announce the cause of the collapse or provide details of any investigation.

In June, 14 children were killed when the roof of a private tuition center collapsed in Lahore’s Kahna area while classes were underway, one of the deadliest recent incidents involving an educational facility in Pakistan.

The tuition center was reportedly operating without registration in an aging residential building. Police subsequently registered a case against the owners and a contractor over the deaths.

The Lahore tragedy prompted calls for tighter oversight of private educational facilities, particularly those operating in residential buildings without adequate safety checks.

In July 2025, a five-story residential building collapsed in Karachi’s Lyari neighborhood, killing 27 people and injuring several others, highlighting the wider dangers posed by unsafe buildings in Pakistan.