“Nineteen people were killed in the accident and the subsequent fire. At least 50 others were seriously injured,” Brigadier General Zahed Kamal, director general of the Fire Services and Civil Defence, told reporters.
बांग्लादेश में स्कूल पर गिरा सेना का विमान, अब तक बच्चों समेत 19 लोगों की मौत, राष्ट्रीय शोक घोषित
At least 19 people were killed and dozens injured when a Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft crashed into a school campus shortly after takeoff on Monday afternoon, officials and eyewitnesses said.
The Chinese-made F-7 BGI training aircraft crashed into the Milestone School and College campus in Dhaka’s north area in the afternoon, officials said.
“19 people were killed in the crash and subsequent fire. At least 50 others were seriously injured,” Brigadier General Jahed Kamal, Director General of Fire Services and Civil Defence, told reporters.
He said rescue workers recovered 19 bodies from the school campus alone during the rescue operation. Mohammad Sayeedur Rahman, Special Assistant to the Health Ministry for Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus, had earlier said at least 16 people were killed when the Air Force plane crashed into the Milestone College campus.
Rahman said 72 people have been admitted to the hospital due to burns and other injuries.
He said the injured are being treated at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka Medical College Hospital and National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery (NIBPS) and most of them are students. According to doctors, the condition of eight of the injured is critical.
A doctor at NIBPS told reporters, “The number of injured people being brought to our hospital is increasing.”
Rahman said the pilot of the plane, Flight Lieutenant Mohammad Tauqir Islam, is being treated at the Intensive Care Unit of CMH.
The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the F-7 BGI training aircraft took off at 1:06 pm and crashed into the college campus shortly after.
A fire department official said the plane crashed into the four-storey building of the Milestone School with a loud explosion and caught fire immediately.
According to police, fire brigade and ambulance vehicles and air force helicopters reached the spot soon after the accident.
A school teacher, speaking on condition of anonymity, said security personnel were carrying the bodies in body bags from the damaged building, where students from classes one to seven study, to Dhaka’s CMH. “Dozens of ambulances are taking the injured to nearby hospitals,” the teacher said.
The National Burn Institute here said it was treating 18 people, mostly students, and some were in critical condition.
The interim government has declared a day of state mourning on July 22, when the national flag will fly at half-mast in Bangladesh and its embassies abroad. Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus expressed deep sorrow over the loss of lives in the accident.
“I am deeply saddened by the loss of lives in the heartbreaking crash of a Bangladesh Air Force aircraft on the Milestone School and College campus,” he said in a statement.
Faheem Hossain, a Class XI student, said the plane crashed right in front of his eyes, just 10 feet ahead of him. “It fell on the ground floor of a two-storey building at around 1:15pm, where primary level classes were going on,” Faheem told The Daily Star.
Follow Us on… 
