Roof collapse at a Lahore tuition centre kills at least 14 children
At least 14 schoolchildren were killed and several more injured when the roof of a tutoring centre collapsed in the Kahna area of Lahore on June 30. The victims were aged roughly 4 to 12; a teacher and eight other children were hospitalized.
A police official said the roof of an unfinished second floor gave way “because of poor construction quality,” and that workers had been repairing tiles on the aging building when it fell. Rescuers searched the rubble by hand amid reports that more children might be trapped.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief and ordered a “transparent, unbiased and immediate investigation.” Building collapses are recurrent in Pakistan, where lax enforcement of construction standards and unregulated additions to older structures repeatedly turn into fatal accidents.