At least 33 pupils and a teacher have been killed after a school roof collapsed in Peshawar, north-western Pakistan.
Hospital officials say more than a dozen people have been injured, some critically, while several children are feared to be trapped beneath the rubble.
The incident occurred at the private Al-Khair school in Dir Colony on Thursday morning, shortly after lessons had begun. Emergency services were alerted at 08:48 local time.
Rescue officials say the roof of an upper-floor classroom collapsed, causing ceilings on the floors below to cave in.
Bilal Faizi, an emergency services official, told the BBC that children in the affected classrooms were trapped beneath the debris.
Emergency official Arif Khattak said the school was housed in a building that had been constructed on a temporary basis.
Peshawar police chief Mian Saeed confirmed that classrooms across three floors had collapsed. He said the upper-floor roof gave way, sending rubble crashing through the classrooms below.
Saeed said the structure was overloaded and had substandard roof slabs that could not withstand the weight.
Rescue efforts have been complicated by the school's location on a narrow street, which allows only one vehicle to pass at a time. This has made it difficult for emergency workers to reach the site and transport injured pupils to hospital.
According to hospital officials, Lady Reading Hospital reported 32 children and a teacher dead, while Naseerullah Khan Babar Memorial Hospital reported the death of another child.
Local residents also joined the rescue operation, using shovels and their bare hands to pull children from the rubble.
An English teacher from a nearby school told the BBC that he rushed to the scene with other residents after hearing sirens and ambulances.
He said he personally pulled six children from the debris, adding that some initially appeared to be alive and able to speak before they were later found to have died.
Police chief Saeed described the incident as a case of gross negligence and said authorities would investigate possible violations of building regulations.
He warned that the structure remained extremely dangerous and urged people to stay away from the site.
Saeed also confirmed that the school's owner had been arrested.
Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Faisal Karim Kundi has ordered a safety audit of all schools across the province to identify potential risks and ensure that corrective measures are implemented.
“We cannot allow the safety of our children to be compromised,” Kundi said.
Investigations into the cause of the collapse are continuing.
Based on reporting by BBC News