At least eight people were killed and more than 50 injured when the roof of a shop collapsed in a village in eastern Pakistan on Monday as women gathered to receive government welfare payments, police and rescue officials said.

Rescue worker Ashiq Mahmood said the roof caved in due to the pressure of a large crowd. According to him, the shopkeeper had asked some of the more than 100 women present to move onto the roof while others stayed inside the shop, which caused the structure to give way.

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The incident occurred in Rahim Yar Khan district of Punjab province, where women had assembled to collect financial assistance ahead of Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The payments were being distributed under the Benazir Income Support Program, a government initiative named after former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who was killed in a gun and bomb attack in 2007. The programme provides cash support to millions of low-income families across the country, many of them headed by women. Eligible families receive quarterly payments of 13,000 Pakistani rupees, equivalent to about $45.

Crowding and stampedes are not uncommon in Pakistan during Ramadan when government bodies, charities and businesses distribute food and cash among poor families. In 2023, at least 11 women and children died in a stampede at a Ramadan aid distribution centre in Karachi after hundreds of people rushed to collect assistance outside a factory.