Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Bangladesh's fire service and security personnel conduct a search and rescue operation after an Air Force training jet crashed into a school in Dhaka on July 21, 2025. A Bangladeshi training fighter jet crashed into a school in the capital Dhaka on July 21, killing at least 19 people and injuring dozens more in the country's deadliest aviation accident in decades. Photo by Jubair Bin Iqbal/AFP

Article (news)

Dhaka

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1753144760868Screen Shot 2025-07-22 at 8.38.58 AM.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Bangladesh&#x27;s fire service and security personnel conduct a search and rescue operation after an Air Force training jet crashed into a school in Dhaka on July 21, 2025. A Bangladeshi training fighter jet crashed into a school in the capital Dhaka on July 21, killing at least 19 people and injuring dozens more in the country&#x27;s deadliest aviation accident in decades. Photo by Jubair Bin Iqbal/AFP</span></span></span></div><p>DHAKA, Bangladesh — A Bangladeshi fighter jet crashed into a school in the capital Dhaka on Monday, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 170 in the country&#x27;s deadliest aviation accident in decades.</p><p>Many of the victims were young students who had just been let out of class when a Chinese-made F-7 BJI aircraft slammed into the Milestone School and College.</p><p>An AFP photographer at the scene saw fire and rescue officials taking away the injured students on stretchers, while army personnel helped clear the mangled wreckage.</p><p>A military statement said 20 people were killed, including the pilot, and 171 others injured when the jet crashed following a mechanical failure.</p><p>An 18-year-old student, Shafiur Rahman Shafi, said he heard a huge blast that felt like an earthquake.</p><p>&quot;There were two fighter planes... Suddenly one of the two planes crashed here (in the junior playground),&quot; he told AFP.</p><p>&quot;It created a boom, and it felt like a quake. Then it caught fire,&quot; he added.</p><p>The well-known private school offers education to children from kindergarten through to senior secondary.</p><p>Most of the injured were aged between eight and 14, said Mohammad Maruf Islam, joint director of Dhaka&#x27;s National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute where many victims were treated.</p><p>Grieving relatives of the victims thronged the hospital, while dozens of volunteers lined up to donate blood.</p><p>Tofazzal Hossain, 30, broke down in tears on learning that his young cousin had been killed.</p><p>&quot;We frantically searched for my cousin in different hospitals,&quot; Hossain told AFP.</p><p>&quot;He was an eighth grader at the school. Finally, we found his body.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;DEEP GRIEF AND SORROW&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Mohammad Sayedur Rahman, a Health and Family Welfare official, said at least seven bodies remained unidentified.</p><p>The military said the pilot, flight lieutenant Towkir Islam, was on a routine training mission when the jet &quot;reportedly encountered a mechanical failure&quot;.</p><p>&quot;The exact cause remains under investigation,&quot; it said in a statement.</p><p>The pilot tried to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas but, &quot;despite his best efforts&quot;, crashed into the two-storey school building, the military added.</p><p>It was Towkir&#x27;s first solo flight, his uncle Motakabbir told AFP.</p><p>&quot;His mother was nervous yet happy and had been eagerly waiting for the completion of her son&#x27;s first solo flight,&quot; said Motakabbir, who uses only one name.</p><p>Shuvra Ghosh, the aunt of one of the injured students, said her eight-year-old niece was rescued by a teacher who broke open a window to bring her out.</p><p>&quot;We are mentally traumatised,&quot; she told AFP.</p><p>The interim government of Muhammad Yunus announced a day of national mourning on Tuesday.</p><p>Yunus expressed &quot;deep grief and sorrow&quot; over the incident in a post on X.</p><p>&quot;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,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;This is a moment of profound pain for the nation.&quot;</p><p>The crash was the worst aviation accident in the country in several decades.</p><p>The deadliest ever disaster happened in 1984 when a plane flying from Chattogram to Dhaka crashed, killing all 49 on board.</p><p>Last month, a commercial aircraft crashed in neighbouring India, killing 260 people.</p><p>Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was &quot;deeply shocked and saddened at the loss of lives&quot; in Dhaka.</p><p>Relations between the neighbours have been strained since protesters in Bangladesh last year ousted leader Sheikh Hasina, an old ally of New Delhi.</p><p>&quot;India stands in solidarity with Bangladesh and is ready to extend all possible support and assistance,&quot; Modi wrote on X.</p><div><strong>—By Sheikh Sabiha Alam, Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aAUR1-xVoYs?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>Many of the victims were young students who had just been let out of class when the aircraft slammed into the Milestone School and College.</p>

Many of the victims were young students who had just been let out of class when the aircraft slammed into the Milestone School and College.