Fahim Hossain, who experienced the murderous crash of the training aircrafts of Bangladesh Air Force in Milestone School and College in northern Dhaka, said, “I saw Jet crashed just in front of my eyes, with only 10 feet in front of me.”
The plane, which was mid-flight at the time crashed down on the Milestone College in Uttara neighbourhood in northern Dhaka, at about 1:30 pm (local time), killing at least 19 people and leading more than 100 hundred others to have been injured by the crash, according to Reuters, who said that this information is based on local reports.
The fighter jet of Bangladesh military however, reported that a minimum of 18 people, one of them being the pilot were killed.
Hossain, who is of eleventh grade in the institution, was an eyewitness to the gruesome crash of the Chinese made F-7 BJI aircraft. The jet plane crashed in my sight in the open, only 10 feet in front of me. The building is two storeys and it crashed on the ground floor at around 1.15 pm where primary section classes were ongoing, he said.
Rasel Mia who is supposedly a member of the Air Force staff happened to be at the scene of the crash; quickly after the crash happened. The inside event of the ground flood cannot be described, said he.
In the meantime, a student of first year HSC, Ariful Islam, told that he was gazing through the window and was standing on the seventh floor of a high-rise building when he suddenly saw a plane crashing down at the first floor of the next building where junior boys were taking classes.
With a loud bang the whole neighborhood went up in flames and screams started inside the building. We evacuated our building quickly,” Islam said The Daily Star.
A student Rafiqa Taha who was absent in the premises during the event approached and told The Associated Press that the school has elementary level, 12th grade classes among many others numbering approximately 2,000 studying students. I was scared to watch television videos. My God! That is my school, the 16 year old replied.
On X, Yunus wrote a post in which he was in deep grief and sorrow. He added, the loss experienced by the Air force, students, parents, teachers and staffs at the Milestone school and college and other victims of this accident is non repairable.
In the meantime, there were several ambulances going in and out of the campus as the rescue operations continued. Parents and guardians, as well as siblings of students, lost their composures and became anxious and desperate.
One of the fathers in the waiting group said, I called my son on the phone but I have not seen him here.
It is quite clear and evident that the students who sustained the fatal road crash by escaping were in distress, shaken except that the traumas were imprinted on their faces.
16 Students, 2 Teachers, Pilot Killed As Jet Crashes Into College In Dhaka
The crash in Dhaka also killed 16 children, two teachers, and the pilot – Flight Lieutenant Mohammed Toukir Islam, which occurred early in the afternoon. Bangladeshi officials said more than 100, many of them students, were wounded, some severely burned, and were taken to nearby health care facilities.
Doctors have confirmed that at least eight are in critical condition, and a medical practitioner at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in the city said the injured are also becoming more and more.
Mohammed Yunus, the interim leader of the country has termed the incident as a very sad one and a source of sorrow in a post at X. The grief endured by the Air Force, the students, parents, teachers and staff of Milestone School and College and all other people who got involved in this accident cannot be mended, he said.
This is the scene of deep sorrow to the country.
A list of emergency numbers and helplines was also issued out by the office of Mr Yunus.
The post in Bengali reads:
Emergencies numbers contact list of absent school students:
Military Rescue Brigade The number is 0176 9024202
CMH Burn Unit – 0176 9016019
CMH emergency – 0176 9013311
The Milestone school Admin Officer: 0181 4774132
Vice Principal – 0177 1111766
When you call 999 (Bangladesh national phone helpline) you will be able to reach the burn units of Emergency Cell of Bangladesh Police.”
The videos captured on TV, where they filmed the crash site, and some shared on the internet clips indicated that there was smoke and fire, which was billowing off as the rescue crew attempted to extinguish the flames. In one of the creepiest videos that have been posted by one of the news agencies (PTI), the destroyed jet engine is buried in the ruins that used to be a classroom.
Another video, which the camera was far away, depicted how a crowd of people was running to the burning debris and a huge fire burning through the one-storey building of the school.
And the third video, the one that was most heart wrenching, showed an injured man, whitened with soot and debris, with tattered clothes clutched and barely hanging onto threads by a by passer.
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