A devastating roof collapse at a private tutoring center in Lahore, Pakistan, has claimed the lives of at least 14 children and injured eight others, according to police and rescue officials. The incident occurred on Tuesday in the eastern city, sending shockwaves through the community.
Senior police official Faisal Kamran confirmed that the owner of the tutoring center and another individual have been arrested. Rescue workers are still searching through the rubble, as there are fears that more children may be trapped beneath the debris. The tutoring center was located in an aging building, and the roof of an unfinished second floor apparently collapsed due to poor construction quality.
Building collapses are a recurring tragedy 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. Witnesses described a chaotic scene as ambulances and rescue workers rushed to the site, with local residents joining the search using shovels and their bare hands to remove rubble and reach trapped children.
Hours after the collapse, the bodies of the children were handed over to their families, leading to scenes of profound grief outside hospitals and in the neighborhood on the outskirts of Lahore where the tutoring center was located. Parents wept over their loss, while mothers and female relatives cried and beat their chests in anguish. Most of the victims lived nearby, and funeral prayers were expected later Tuesday.
Grief was mixed with anger as residents demanded stern punishment for the owner, blaming him for operating classes in what they described as an aging and unsafe building. Dozens of mourners gathered outside the victims’ homes to offer condolences. “We don’t know whose home to visit first to offer condolences for the loss of their children,” said resident Zafar Iqbal as he moved from one bereaved family’s home to another.
Lahore is the capital of Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province, where many parents send their children to private tutoring centers in the afternoon and evening. Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief over the collapse, offering condolences to the families and praying for the speedy recovery of the injured. They emphasized the need for effective safety measures to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
