KARAK: Three students were killed and 15 others injured when the roof of a seminarycum-mosque collapsed due to rain in Ali Khel area here on Sunday.

The local people and the students of Sirajul Uloom seminary informed this scribe that the roof of the main hall caved in when some students were reciting holy Quran after the Fajar (morning) prayers. They said most students had gone out for tea break when the incident occurred.

Soon after the incident, announcements were made on loudspeakers in different areas, asking people to rush for the spot to rescue the buried children.

The people used a tractor and an excavator to remove the rubble and retrieve the buried students who numbered 18. All the students were rushed to the district headquaners hospital, where the doctors pronounced three students as dead. They were identified as Shamsul Haq, Mohammad Nasir and Mohammad Ayaz.

Haq is the son of Maulana Sirajuddin, the organiser of the seminary. Two of the injured, Bakht Ali and Mohammad Janaid, were referred to a hospital in Peshawar in precarious condition.-Correspondent