Six children were injured on Tuesday when a classroom’s roof collapsed in Tangaar village of Gwalerai Union Council in Swat’s Matta Tehsil.
Gwalerai Station House Officer (SHO) Islam Jan confirmed the casualties, saying the incident occurred at a private school.
“It was a nursery classroom in a private school where one of the walls collapsed, after which the roof caved in,” Jan told Dawn.com. “Consequently, six students were injured.”
Swat’s Rescue 1122 spokesperson Shafiqa Gul said three of the injured children were in critical condition.
Gul added that the children were transferred to Saidu Teaching Hospital from Matta Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, where all the wounded were initially taken.
An earlier statement issued by the Rescue 1122 spokesperson said officials of the rescue, medical, and disaster response teams immediately reached the site of the accident upon receiving an alert.
It further said that rescue volunteers had recovered all the children and shifted them to the Matta THQ Hospital after providing them with first aid.
The incident comes just days after a school bus plunged into a ditch in Swat’s Khwazakhela tehsil, leaving a child dead and 41 others wounded.
In May, a girls’ school in Haripur district’s Sirikot village was left burnt in a massive fire, which had been attributed to a short circuit. However, students and staff members remained unharmed after a swift rescue.
Last month, education department officials and experts highlighted that most of the flood-hit schools in Swat were yet to be rehabilitated.
They had urged the government and non-government institutions to play their role in providing adequate facilities to girls’ schools.
