Deborah Akinyosoye
At least 16 people, mostly students, were killed, on 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.
An AFP photographer at the scene saw fire and rescue officials taking away the injured students on stretchers, while military personnel helped clear the wreckage.
More than 100 people were injured in the accident, with at least 83 undergoing treatment in several hospitals, the office of interim leader Muhammad Yunus said.
The Chinese-made F-7 BJI aircraft took off at 1:06 pm (0706 GMT) and crashed soon after at the Milestone School and College campus.
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.
Yunus expressed “deep grief and sorrow” over the incident in a post on X.
“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.
“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.