Around 1,400 female students narrowly avoided danger on Monday as they were successfully evacuated from a school building engulfed by a large fire in a remote mountainous area of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, as reported by Geo News. According to a rescue official interviewed by Geo News, the fire broke out in the Government Girls Higher Secondary School located in Sirikot village of Haripur district while numerous students were present inside.
The rescue official stated that firefighters, along with local residents, promptly responded to extinguish the blaze. However, they encountered difficulty as fire brigade vehicles faced challenges reaching the incident site due to the rugged terrain.
According to Haripur’s Rescue 1122 spokesperson Faraz Jalal, approximately 1,400 students were safely evacuated from the school building, as reported. The spokesperson mentioned that the blaze caused significant damage to the entire school structure.
The rescue department confirmed that there were no casualties and noted that half of the school building was constructed with wood. Chief Secretary of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Nadeem Aslam Chaudhry, affirmed that the fire was triggered by a short circuit. Chaudhry stated that further investigation into the incident was ongoing and assured that the school would soon be operational again.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan has experienced attacks on school buildings by militants. On May 8, unidentified militants detonated explosives at a private girls’ school in Tehsil Shewa of North Waziristan district, causing extensive damage. The police reported that the militants assaulted the watchman before destroying two rooms of the school. Similar incidents occurred in May last year, with two government schools for girls in Mirali being targeted. Fortunately, there were no casualties reported in these attacks.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur praised the prompt response of rescue officials who efficiently evacuated the students. He mentioned that both the education department and district administration would furnish a report concerning the fire incident. Gandapur affirmed that a comprehensive review of all educational institutions would be conducted to prevent similar incidents from happening in the future. Additionally, he assured that the provincial government would provide compensation for the losses incurred due to the fire.
