A roof collapse at a tutoring centre under construction in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Tuesday killed at least 14 schoolchildren, police and rescue officials said.
Eight other children were also injured and were being treated at a hospital, senior police official Faisal Kamran said, adding that the owner of the tutoring centre and another person have been arrested.
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 ageing 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 incident. 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 in the South Asian country of more than 240 million people.