Peshawar school tragedy claims 33 lives as grief grips city

Peshawar: The second day of grief gripped Peshawar after the horrific Dir Colony school tragedy, as political leaders, government officials and other dignitaries visited the affected school and the grieving families.

The Express News said the roof of the school collapsed Thursday morning killing 33 youngsters and a female instructor.

A foreign team of United Nations representatives also visited the school to inspect its facilities and to meet the relatives of the dead children.

During the visit, the secretary of the Private Schools Regulatory Authority told the UN team about the occurrence and provided specifics of the available facts. Other political heavyweights and government officials also met the relatives of the victims including Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Faisal Karim Kundi, Federal Minister Amir Muqam, provincial interior minister Kifayat, the health minister and advisers.

Inquiry committees have been constituted to probe the catastrophe but, according to the report, no relevant department had so yet visited the site to undertake its probe.

“I have three children, two sons and a daughter,” said Zakirullah, father of two children who died in the tragedy. His daughter told him what had happened and when he arrived at the school, he found his boys buried beneath the rubble in a horrific scene.

Abubakar and Muhammad, both in second grade, died after being buried in the debris, he added. The rescue personnel rescued the children and sent them to a hospital.

Zakirullah, the deputy prayer leader at the Peshawar Services Club and a native of Dir, claimed his children have been studying in the institution since its inception.

Another allegation said a child had been sent home to get school payments and returned to find the roof fallen. Among the dead were the child’s buddies Abdullah, Shayan and Mohammad.

The children told me that as they moved about the roof would tremble but a teacher had told them not to worry about it. Other families also lost children in the tragedy, with Pir Muhammad’s family losing five children.