According to the reports on Tuesday (22 July), a Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft crashed into Milestone School and College in Dhaka on Monday (21 July) afternoon (local time), killing 27 people including the pilot, with most of the victims being students. The crash caused a massive fire that engulfed the two-story school building, leaving it in ruins. Emergency responders rescued 171 people, many of them badly burned, using helicopters, ambulances, rickshaws, and even carrying victims by hand. Officials confirmed that seven of the injured succumbed overnight after 20 had already been reported dead earlier.
Doctors warned that the condition of several of the injured remained critical, and many charred bodies were beyond recognition, requiring DNA testing for identification. A blood donation camp was set up at a specialized burn hospital where most victims were being treated. The aircraft, a Chinese-made F-7 BGI, reportedly suffered a technical malfunction shortly after takeoff. The pilot, Flight Lt. Mohammed Toukir Islam, tried to steer the plane toward a less populated area before the crash, but whether he ejected or died in the cockpit is still unknown.
The Milestone School, located in Dhaka’s densely populated Uttara neighborhood, became the epicenter of chaos as students fled in terror and grieving families flooded nearby hospitals. Witnesses described buildings shaking and a loud explosion, followed by scenes of panic and heartbreak. Parents were seen carrying children from the site, with some still searching desperately for missing family members late into the night. One father described seeing a child’s body in the flames, only to later find his own daughter had survived.
The crash is the deadliest aviation disaster in Dhaka in recent memory. The government declared a national day of mourning, with flags flying at half-staff, while leaders like Bangladesh’s interim Prime Minister Muhammad Yunus and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed deep sorrow and solidarity. Investigations are underway to determine the cause of the malfunction. Meanwhile, the nation remains in shock, with students and families struggling to process the devastating loss.
References
Bangladesh mourns 27 lives lost as jet crash shatters school and sparks national grief
