Roof Collapse at Lahore Tutoring Center Kills 14 Children, Injures 8

Fourteen children died when the roof of a tutoring center collapsed in the Kahna suburb of Lahore on Tuesday. Punjab’s emergency service said rescuers found the children, aged five to 16 with most below nine, and a 30-year-old female teacher under the rubble. Eight other children were injured and are being treated at a hospital, senior police official Faisal Kamran said.

The center was unregistered and operating inside a privately owned residential building with a dilapidated roof, Punjab information minister Azma Bokhari said. The roof of an unfinished second floor collapsed because of poor construction quality, Kamran added. Workers had been repairing tiles on the building when the roof gave way, witnesses told AFP.

The uncle of one victim said repair work was being carried out on tiles while the children studied. Two people, including the owner of the tutoring center, have been taken into custody over the disaster, provincial police said. Police are collecting evidence at the scene.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari expressed grief over the collapse and offered condolences to the victims' families while praying for the speedy recovery of the injured. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also expressed grief, prayed for the injured and directed authorities to provide every possible medical assistance.

Roof and building collapses are common across Pakistan, mainly because of poor safety standards and unsafe construction materials.