Teacher, three students electrocuted at school

The teacher didn’t realise as he was raising the banner that the steel pipe with the flag would come in contact with high voltage electricity cables suspended above ground.

Abdur Rasheed, A police officer

mansehra — A teacher and three students were electrocuted at a private school in the country’s northwest, police said.

Police officer Abdur Rasheed said the four were hoisting the national flag during the morning assembly at the Tameer-e-Millat private school in the village of Kiwai in the picturesque Kaghan Valley when tragedy struck on Tuesday.

The school is run by the non-governmental organisation Khidmat-eKhalq.

The officer said the teacher, Safeer Ahmed, apparently didn’t realise as he was raising the banner that the steel pipe with the flag would come in contact with high voltage electricity cables suspended above ground. The three schoolchildren, aged 10, 12 and 13, tried to rescue him and were also electrocuted.

Police immediately shut the school down for being unsafe for students and were checking whether other schools in the mountainous region and the valley were meeting safety standards.

Another teacher and a security guard were injured as they tried to save the victims.

The deceased were identified as Noman class 4; Bilal class 5; and Asif, a student of class 8. An investigation has been launched into the incident. —