M U Z A F F A R GA R H : Twenty-three students were injured when stairs of a private school collapsed on Sunday night on Khangarh Road, 15km from the city.

The incident took place at Misali Public Middle School in Dinpur where students were sleeping on the roof. As soon as a thunderstorm started and hundreds of students rushed downstairs, the stairs collapsed, injuring 23 of the students.

The injured were rushed to the DHQ Hospital. Two of the injured were declared critical and referred to Nishtar Hospital in Multan.

Some of the injured students were identified as Adeel, Umar Farooq, Shahnawaz, Fawad, Waqas, Noman Ahmad, Faraz, Hammad, Bilal Ali, Asghar, Khobalb, Faiz Ali and Abdullah. Out of these, Khobaib and Abdullah were referred to Nishtar Hospital.

On Monday, the chief minister took notice and orderedDistrict Coordination Officer(DCO)HafizShaukat Ali to investigate the incident.

The DCO ordered the district monitoring officer and executive district officer (education) to check the school`s residential certificates. However, it was found the residential or building certificates of this school had not been registered.

Assistant Commissioner Saifullah Bhatti said several facilities were missing in the academy where hundreds of students were living as well as studying.

Sheikh Jameel Qureshi, the owner of Misali school, claimed it was not a serious incident and he had all the certificates. He further claimed several graduates from the school had been hired at key posts and many went to various cadet colleges. The owner further claimed injured students had been discharged from hospital and classes resumed.

The DCO said his team was investigating the incident.