At least 33 pupils and a teacher have been killed after a school building collapsed in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar.
More than a dozen others were injured, with some in critical condition.
Emergency services were called to the private Al-Khair School in Dir Colony at 08:48 local time on Thursday after lessons had begun, rescue official Bilal Faizi told the BBC.
He said the roof of an upper-floor classroom collapsed, causing ceilings below to cave in and trapping children beneath the debris.
The school building was constructed on a temporary basis, according to emergency official Arif Khattak.
Peshawar police chief, Mian Saeed, said the structure had “substandard” roof slabs and was “overloaded” beyond its weight-bearing capacity. He confirmed that classrooms on three floors collapsed, with about 30 pupils in the top class, 40 in the middle and 45 on the ground floor.
Rescue efforts were hampered as the school is located on a very narrow street, making it difficult for emergency workers to access the site and move the injured to hospitals.
Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital reported 32 children and a teacher dead, while the Naseerullah Khan Babar Memorial Hospital reported one child dead.
A teacher from a nearby school who rushed to the scene said he and other residents pulled over 20 children from the rubble.
“I personally pulled out six children with my own hands. Most of them were alive and talking. But later it was found that they had passed away.
“There was a lot of blood. One child said he was in a lot of pain. His tongue had dried up in his mouth, asking for water,” he said.
Police chief Saeed announced the arrest of the school owner and promised a thorough investigation into “whether there were any violations of building codes.”
He added that the building remained “extremely dangerous” and urged people to stay away.
The Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Faisal Karim Kundi, has ordered a safety audit of all schools in the province to “identify potential risks and ensure that immediate corrective measures are taken wherever necessary.”
“We cannot allow the safety of our children to be compromised,” he said.
Family members of the deceased accused the school of ignoring safety concerns.
“Make an example of them, a lesson for all,” Mohammad Zaman, who lost two nephews in the disaster, told Reuters.
In June, 14 children died after the roof of a private tuition centre near Lahore collapsed, while in August, 14 newborn babies were killed in a fire at a neonatal unit in Islamabad, which an inquiry found lacked fire alarms and sprinklers.