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Mourners gathered in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on Wednesday to bury 14 schoolchildren who were killed when the roof of a tutoring centre collapsed late on Tuesday.
Police are investigating whether negligence during ongoing construction work caused the collapse that left another eight children hospitalised in stable condition.
Residents and preliminary police findings indicate the tutoring centre was operating in an ageing building. Investigators believe the unfinished roof of the second floor may have collapsed because of poor construction.
At least two people, including the building owner, were arrested as investigators tried to determine who was responsible, senior police official Kamran Faisal said, adding that negligence by the owner and construction workers appear to have caused the collapse.
“We are still investigating to determine exactly whose negligence resulted in this tragic incident,” Faisal said.
Funeral prayers for the children, who were up to 14 years old, began before dawn and continued through Wednesday morning.
Most of the victims were buried in a local graveyard, while some families planned to take the bodies to their home towns for burial.
Ambulances transported the victims’ bodies overnight to their homes in Kahna, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of Lahore. Mothers and female relatives sat beside the bodies throughout the night while classmates and friends of the victims stood nearby in tears.
The funeral mourners Wednesday morning included Mohammad Ashfaq, a labourer whose seven-year-old son and nephew were killed in the collapse.
“I cannot express my pain and grief in words,” Ashfaq said through tears as relatives tried to comfort him.
Nearby, Muhammad Farooq mourned the loss of his young daughter.
“Yesterday she went to her tuition class at around 4 pm,” Farooq said. “Around 4:45 pm, my family called me and said the roof of the tuition centre had collapsed. They told me many children were trapped under the debris.”
Local resident Mohammad Tahir said neighbours were the first to respond after the roof gave way.
“Rescuers arrived quickly, but before they reached us, neighbours rushed in with shovels and even dug through the debris with their bare hands,” Tahir said. “We also pulled children from the rubble, but many could not be saved.”
Building collapses are common in Pakistan, where construction standards are often poorly enforced. Structures are frequently built with substandard materials and safety regulations are sometimes ignored to reduce costs.
Grief has turned to anger for some people. Residents blamed the owner of the tutoring centre for holding classes in what they described as an old and unsafe building despite ongoing construction and demanded strict punishment for those responsible.
“We don’t know whose funeral to attend first or whose home to visit first to offer condolences,” Tahir said.
Additional sources • AP