At least 14 children are dead and eight more are injured after a roof collapse in Lahore, Pakistan.
At least 14 schoolchildren have been killed after a roof caved in at a tutoring centre in Lahore, Pakistan, emergency officials have announced.
Eight other children were also injured during the incident and are currently being treated at a nearby hospital, senior police official Faisal Kamran said, adding that the owner of the tutoring centre and another person had been arrested.
Mr Kamran said rescuers were continuing to search through the rubble after receiving reports that more children could be trapped beneath the debris.
He said the tutoring centre was housed in an aging building and that the roof of an unfinished second floor apparently collapsed because of poor-quality construction.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari expressed grief over the collapse at the evening school building.
In a statement, he offered condolences to the families of the victims, prayed for the speedy recovery of those injured, and said effective safety measures were needed to prevent similar tragedies.
Building collapses are common in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced. Many structures are built with substandard materials, and safety regulations are frequently ignored to reduce costs.
Witnesses said ambulances and rescue workers rushed to the scene after the roof collapsed. Residents also joined the search, using shovels and their bare hands to remove rubble in an effort to reach children trapped beneath the debris.
Hours later, as the bodies of the children were being handed over to their families, scenes of anguish unfolded outside hospitals and in the neighbourhood on the outskirts of Lahore where the private tutoring centre was located in a house.
Most of the victims lived nearby, and funeral prayers were expected later on Tuesday.
Grief was mixed with anger as residents demanded stern punishment for the owner of the tutoring centre, blaming him for operating classes in what they described as an aging and unsafe building.
Dozens of mourners were seen gathering outside the victims’ homes to offer condolences.
“We don’t know whose home to visit first to offer condolences for the loss of their children,” resident Zafar Iqbal said as he moved from one bereaved family’s home to another nearby street.
Lahore is the capital of Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province, where many parents send their children to private tutoring centres in the afternoon and evening.
