Special correspondent, Dhaka
At least 20 people, including children, were killed and more than 160 people were injured after a Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) training aircraft burst into flames after crashing into the primary school building inside the Milestone College campus at Diabari in the capital's Uttara this afternoon (21 July).
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the F-7 BGI training aircraft crashed after it took off from BAF Base Bir Uttom AK Khandker at 1:06pm. Soon after, the fighter jet faced a technical malfunction and went down.
Soon after, personnel from the Bangladesh Army, Fire Service and Civil Defence, police, and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) rushed to the scene and started working jointly to rescue the victims and douse the flames.
Firefighters reached the scene at around 1:22pm -- four to five minutes after the plane crashed between 1:10pm and 1:15pm.
Dozens of injured people were rushed to different nearby hospitals and to Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka Medical College Hospital, and the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery (NIBPS).
Briefing reporters at the crash site amid the rescue operation, Fire Service Director General Brig Gen Md Jahed Kamal said that they have recovered 19 bodies from the school compound so far, and the rescue efforts are still ongoing.
Around the same time, Dr Sayedur Rahman, special assistant to chief adviser for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, told reporters at NIBPS that at least 16 deaths were confirmed at different hospitals and 72 people were hospitalised with burns and other types of injuries.
He said that currently, 48 people were admitted to NIBPS, and the condition of eight of them was critical.
Meanwhile, in a statement later in the afternoon, ISPR said that 164 injured people were undergoing treatment at seven hospitals, while 18 dead bodies were currently at five of them.
Soon after, ISPR also confirmed that the aircraft's pilot, identified as Flight Lieutenant Md Towkir Islam of the BAF, had succumbed to his injuries.
