4 children killed, 20 people injured as roof of classroom collapses in Dera Ghazi Khan school

LAHORE: Four children died while 20 others sustained injuries in an accident when the roof of the class room in a private school located in Dera Ghazi Khan of Punjab province fell down on Thursday.

According to the initial report issued by the district administration, the total number of casualties was confirmed. It is reported that out of those injured, 16 were students, two teachers and two labourers.

It added that the incident took place around noon time and afterwards, the rescue teams were sent to the spot. It further stated that the rescue teams had arrived at the site within four minutes.

Farooq Ahmed, spokesperson of Rescue 1122, told Dawn that both the rescue and district administration officials, as well as the local residents, joined hands to pull out the trapped students and teachers from beneath the debris.

Speaking to local press, District Education Authority CEO Waqas Gill said he was also present at the site where the search and rescue mission was underway.

“All the patients were immediately rushed to the nearby hospitals,” he added.

According to the report of the district administration, investigation conducted by them indicated that construction work for the extension of the building of the school was going on when its roof fell.

The roof of the room had been overloaded with sand and bricks because of which “it couldn’t withstand the pressure”, and hence fell down, he stated.

Before the report had been made public, the CEO had assured that the matter would be thoroughly investigated, and action would be taken against the school administration “for allegedly compromising the safety of the students by conducting construction work in school timings.”