KEY POINTS
- More than 100 people injured in the incident
- The crash is the deadliest aviation accident in the country in several decades
DHAKA, Bangladesh: At least 19 people, mostly students, were killed Monday when a training aircraft of the Bangladesh Air Force crashed into a school campus in the capital Dhaka, in the country’s deadliest aviation accident in decades.
More than 100 people were injured in the accident, with at least 83 undergoing treatments in several hospitals, the office of interim leader Muhammad Yunus said.
The F-7 BJI aircraft took off at 1:06 pm (0706 GMT) and crashed soon after at the Milestone School and College campus.
A military statement said 19 people were killed, including the pilot, and 20 others were critically wounded.
At least 51 people, mostly students, were undergoing treatment at Dhaka’s National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute, its director Mohammad Nasir Uddin said.
A witness said he heard a huge blast that felt like an earthquake.
“We have two playgrounds, one for the senior students and one for the juniors,” said Shafiur Rahman Shafi, 18, a student of the school.
“We were on the playground for the seniors. Suddenly, one of the two fighter planes crashed here (in the junior playground),” he told AFP.
“It created a boom, and it felt like a quake. Then it caught fire, and the army reached the spot later.”
The interim government announced a day of national mourning on Tuesday.
Grieving parents and relatives of the victims thronged the National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute in the capital, local media reported.
Many were trying to identify their children by their uniform and other belongings.
Muhammad Yunus, head of Bangladesh’s interim government, said “necessary measures” would be taken to investigate the cause of the accident and “ensure all kinds of assistance”.
“The loss suffered by the Air Force, the students, parents, teachers, and staff of Milestone School and College, as well as others affected by this accident, is irreparable,” he said in a post on X.
“This is a moment of profound pain for the nation.”
The crash was the deadliest 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.
Last month, a commercial aircraft crashed in neighbouring India, killing 260 people.
