Lahore: At least 14 schoolchildren were killed when the roof of a tutoring centre in Lahore, Pakistan, suddenly collapsed, officials said, adding that the tragedy has left a teacher and eight other children injured in the incident.
The injured were being treated at a hospital, while police said two persons, including the owner of the centre, had been arrested.
Sources told AFP that the children who died were aged between four and 12 years.
Senior police official Faisal Kamran said rescuers were combing through the debris after receiving reports that more children might still be trapped under the rubble, Re
uters reported.
He said the centre was located in an old building and that the roof of an unfinished second floor appeared to have fallen because of poor construction quality.
A witness told AFP that workers had been repairing tiles on the building when the roof gave way and crushed the children.
Geo News broadcast images showing uniformed rescue workers and civilians using shovels and their hands to clear dirt and rubble from the partly collapsed structure.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his “grief over the loss of precious lives in the collapse of a tuition centre roof in Lahore’s Kahna area”.
Sharif “prayed for the speedy recovery of the injured and directed the authorities to provide them with every possible medical assistance”, according to a statement from his office.
Khan said in a statement that “those responsible for the incident will be found through a transparent, unbiased and immediate investigation”.
Building and roof collapses are common in Pakistan, largely because of weak safety standards and substandard construction materials.
Last July, 27 people were killed and 10 others injured when a five-storey building collapsed in Lyari, an impoverished area in the southern city of Karachi.