Jet slams into school, kills 22, mostly children
The final bell had rung.
Dozens of children from the primary section of Milestone School and College in Dhaka, along with their guardians and teachers, lingered inside the two-storey building -- some preparing to head home, chatting and winding down from the day.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Suddenly, the bustle turned into chaos.
A Bangladesh Air Force training jet plunged from the sky and slammed into the school's Diabari campus in Uttara around 1:30pm yesterday. The aircraft burst into flames on impact, killing at least 20 people, including the pilot, and injuring over 171 others, according to data provided by the Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) around 5:30pm.
Two of the injured died at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery later, taking the toll to 22, Resident Surgeon Shaon Bin Rahman told The Daily Star around midnight.
The toll from what is now the deadliest training aircraft crash in recent memory may rise, as many of the injured remain in critical condition, some with burn injuries covering their entire bodies.
Before I could process anything, I saw children running toward me… fire spreading. I poured water on two or three of them in the washroom. Then another teacher shouted, 'Purnima, get out!'
Moments after the impact, fire engulfed several classrooms on the ground floor of the two-storey building. Children were trapped inside. The building housed classrooms for third and fourth grade students on the ground floor, and the room struck by the plane was used for class three.
TV footage from the scene and social media videos showed fire and a thick plume of smoke billowing from the site, visible from a great distance.
The F-7 BGI training jet had struck the front of the building, tearing through concrete walls and iron grilles. The force of the impact drove the aircraft deep into the structure, leaving only the engine's rear end protruding from the mangled wreckage.
A desperate scene unfolded.
Students, their uniforms scorched and skin blistered, stumbled out of the smoke, crying, groaning, and calling for help. Some collapsed on the ground. Others were carried by guardians and seniors, their bodies marked with horrific burns.
The air was thick with smoke, screams, and confusion as residents, firefighters, and army personnel rushed to rescue the injured.
Children were carried on arms, stretchers, and rickshaw-vans, then loaded into ambulances. One harrowing video showed a boy walking with blistered skin. In another, a father sprinted with his wounded daughter cradled in his arms.
The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals and the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Uttara Adhunik Hospital and the burn institute. The air force airlifted many of the critically injured.
Survivors who made it out were shaken.
"You could see the trauma etched on their faces," said one witness at the scene.
Ariful Islam, a first-year HSC student, said, "What happened on the ground floor is beyond description."
He was attending class on the seventh floor of another building across from the crash site. "Suddenly, I saw a plane crash into the first floor of the adjacent building," he said. "The entire site was engulfed in flames with a loud bang, and screams began coming from the building."
SM Mahin, an HSC second-year student, recalled: "The heat and thick smoke were overwhelming. Still, we saw some children coming out, severely burnt. We helped as many as we could."
Purnima Das, a teacher of the school, posted on her Facebook around 8:00pm: "I had just finished class and was heading to the teachers' room when the fire started. About eighty percent of the students had already left as school ended at 1:00pm."
The rest, she wrote, were in tuition classes or waiting for parents.
"Before I could process anything, I saw children running toward me… fire spreading. I poured water on two or three of them in the washroom.
"Then another teacher shouted, 'Purnima, get out!' I stepped out and saw the corridor ablaze -- just two arm-lengths away. One colleague, terribly burned, collapsed at my feet crying, 'Save me.'"
Purnima froze before realising someone was dragging her out.
During a briefing around 8:00pm, Professor Md Sayedur Rahman, the chief adviser's special assistant for health and family welfare, told reporters that 88 of the injured were undergoing treatment at seven hospitals and 25 of them were in a critical condition.
He said 17 bodies had been kept at various hospitals across the capital, and that the death toll could rise. Of the 17, 10 are children while the identities of seven could not be known. "But we fear that all of them are children," said Sayedur.
At the burn institute, the stream of patients arriving in ambulances was constant.
Heartbroken relatives gathered outside, desperately waiting for updates on their loved ones. The area was overcrowded, and medical staff were struggling to manage the high volume of patients while continuing urgent treatment.
The Bangladesh Air Force has formed a high-level committee to investigate the crash and determine its cause.
The ISPR said the pilot, flight lieutenant Towkir Islam, was on a routine training mission when the jet "encountered a mechanical failure".
"The exact cause remains under investigation," it said in a statement.
The pilot tried to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas but, "despite his best efforts", crashed into the school building, the ISPR added.
It was Towkir's first solo flight. He reportedly completed his first 100 hours of flight training during his cadet years in PT-6 aircraft.
The crash was the worst aviation accident in the country in several decades. The deadliest ever disaster happened in 1984 when a plane flying from Chattogram to Dhaka crashed, killing all 49 on board, reports AFP.
The government has declared a day of state mourning today.
President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus expressed deep sorrow and prayed for the departed souls.
Messages of solidarity poured in from around the world. India, Japan, Pakistan, Switzerland, the United Nations, and the European Union each expressed condolences and support for Bangladesh in this moment of tragedy.
The main campus of Milestone School and College was established in 2002 on Gareeb-e-Newaz Avenue in Sector 11 of Uttara Model Town. Around a decade ago, the institution set up its Diabari campus, which consists of 11 buildings and serves approximately 6,000 students across various grades, according to the school authorities. Principal Mohammad Ziaul Alam did not receive phone calls for comments.
Briefing reporters at the scene around 4:45pm, Brig Gen Muhammad Jahed Kamal, director general of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, said the crash occurred after classes had ended for the day. "Children and possibly some guardians had gathered in the building when the plane struck," he said.
Talking to reporters at the burn institute, Law Adviser Asif Nazrul said, "Such a massive, catastrophic accident has never occurred in our national history."
He said the authorities of the burn institute took all necessary preparations to provide the best possible treatment to the victims.
"If needed, foreign doctors will be brought in, and arrangements will be made to send critically injured students abroad for treatment," he said, adding, "There will be no shortage in any aspect of their medical care. But what we have lost today cannot be compensated by anything."
Fire service personnel called off the rescue operation last night while air force and police cordoned off the area. They said there were no bodies or survivors left within the school premises.
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