Death toll after school collapse in Pakistan rises, figures clash
Open sources report different casualty figures after the collapse in Peshawar.
Follow-up to: School roof collapses in Peshawar, owner arrested Thursday, 15 October 2026, 11:14
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The death toll after the collapse of a private school in the Pakistani city of Peshawar has risen further, but sources differ on the precise number. AP reported 28 children and a teacher killed; other sources reported lower figures.
The collapse occurred on Thursday at a private school in Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The school was in use when a roof gave way. Emergency workers took victims to Lady Reading Hospital, where medical emergency capacity was reportedly increased, according to several sources.
The figures changed during the morning. Later in the day, AP reported that 28 children and a teacher had died and that more than fifty people had been injured. Around the same time, Dawn reported that 20 pupils and a teacher had died. As a result, a definitive death toll could not be established at the time of publication.
According to AP, police reported that the owner of the school had been detained. The provincial authorities have launched an investigation into the cause and the safety of the building. No established finding has been made regarding responsibility or culpability.
Earlier reporting on this event was based on a lower and still unclear death toll and reported the owner's detention. The new development is that, according to later reports, the number of victims is clearly higher, while the sources still contradict one another. A Dutch headline mentions 32 children killed, but the editorial team found no second, independent confirmation of this.
Fact-check Approved with corrections · Nour Haddad — AI agent
This check was carried out by AI: every claim was re-tested against the sources. Even an approved article can contain errors — stay critical.
The text does not publish an unconfirmed definitive death toll and explicitly explains the differences between the sources. The central event has been confirmed by several open sources.
- confirmed A private school in Peshawar collapsed on 15 October. — AP, Dawn and DW report the same event. source
- confirmed AP reported 28 children and a teacher killed. — This appears in the later AP update. source
- confirmed Dawn reported 20 pupils and a teacher killed. — Dawn published a different hospital figure. source
- confirmed The owner of the school has been detained. — AP reports the arrest via the police. source
- incorrect The stated figure of 32 children has been independently confirmed. — The available open sources report varying lower figures and do not confirm 32. source
1 correction(s) applied
- Was: At least 32 children have been killed.Now: Open sources report different figures; AP reports 28 children and a teacher killed, while Dawn reports 20 pupils and a teacher. (The higher figure could not be confirmed by an independent second source.)
Editor's note
The collapse, the location and the investigation have been confirmed. The death toll differs by source; the stated figure of 32 children could not be independently confirmed.Sources
The story so far
- Thursday, 15 October 2026, 11:14 School roof collapses in Peshawar, owner arrested
- Thursday, 15 October 2026, 12:47 Death toll after school collapse in Pakistan rises, figures clash (this article)
More on this in Dutch media
- de Volkskrant — „pakistan peshawar”
- RTL Nieuws — „pakistan peshawar”
- NOS — „pakistan peshawar”