At least 14 children were killed and eight others injured when a roof collapsed at a tutoring centre in northeastern Pakistan, according to police. The collapse turned a place of learning into the scene of a tragedy, with young students among those caught when the structure gave way.
Authorities said the building was under construction at the time of the collapse. That detail placed the focus of the early inquiry on the state of the structure and the conditions at the site, where work was apparently still ongoing when the roof came down.
The casualties were concentrated among children, reflecting the fact that the site was being used as a tutoring centre. In addition to those who died, eight others were hurt, and emergency responders worked to reach and treat the injured in the immediate aftermath of the collapse.
Rescue efforts centred on the collapsed section of the building, where crews searched through the debris. The scale of the loss, with more than a dozen children confirmed dead, made it one of the more devastating such incidents to strike the region in recent memory.
Collapses of buildings under construction are a recurring hazard in parts of South Asia, where lapses in construction standards and oversight can have deadly consequences. The fact that this structure was still being built raised immediate questions about how it came to be in use and whether it was safe.
As of the latest information, the investigation was in its early stages, with authorities working to establish exactly how and why the roof failed. For the families of the children who were killed, the collapse brought sudden and profound loss, and officials were left to account for how a tutoring centre in an unfinished building ended in such a heavy toll.