
Death toll rises to 31 in Bangladesh air force crash
The aircraft crashed soon after it took off from an airbase in the capital on a routine training mission. The military said the plane experienced a mechanical failure.
Included in the toll were at least 25 students, a teacher who died from burn injuries she sustained while helping others get out of the burning building and the pilot of the training aircraft.
Bangladesh declared Tuesday a day of national mourning, with the flags flying at half-mast across the country.
The jet, a F-7 BGI, is the final and most advanced variant in China's Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, according to Jane's Information Group. Bangladesh signed a contract for 16 aircraft in 2011 and deliveries were completed by 2013.
Several hundred pupils demonstrated near the crash site on Tuesday, demanding a thorough investigation and an accurate death count.
The demonstration began as two senior advisers from the interim administration arrived at the scene.
The protesters chanted slogans such as "We want justice" and "Why did our brothers die? We demand answers!" effectively trapping the advisers and several senior officials inside the school building.
In a video message, Bangladesh's interim leader and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus promised an investigation into the accident.
"We will definitely investigate this incident, but these innocent children will never come back," he said.
"They are all our children, and they are gone forever. We are ensuring treatment for the injured, and everyone is making every effort for them," he added.
He expressed sympathy for the parents, relatives and friends of the deceased, saying: "To say we are shocked would be an understatement. The scars of this accident have not yet healed."
The crash comes weeks after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad in neighbouring India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
with DPA and AP
At least 31 people have been killed after a Bangladesh air force training jet crashed into a college and school campus in Dhaka, officials say, with 88 people, including children, being treated in hospital.
The aircraft crashed soon after it took off from an airbase in the capital on a routine training mission. The military said the plane experienced a mechanical failure.
Included in the toll were at least 25 students, a teacher who died from burn injuries she sustained while helping others get out of the burning building and the pilot of the training aircraft.
Bangladesh declared Tuesday a day of national mourning, with the flags flying at half-mast across the country.
The jet, a F-7 BGI, is the final and most advanced variant in China's Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, according to Jane's Information Group. Bangladesh signed a contract for 16 aircraft in 2011 and deliveries were completed by 2013.
Several hundred pupils demonstrated near the crash site on Tuesday, demanding a thorough investigation and an accurate death count.
The demonstration began as two senior advisers from the interim administration arrived at the scene.
The protesters chanted slogans such as "We want justice" and "Why did our brothers die? We demand answers!" effectively trapping the advisers and several senior officials inside the school building.
In a video message, Bangladesh's interim leader and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus promised an investigation into the accident.
"We will definitely investigate this incident, but these innocent children will never come back," he said.
"They are all our children, and they are gone forever. We are ensuring treatment for the injured, and everyone is making every effort for them," he added.
He expressed sympathy for the parents, relatives and friends of the deceased, saying: "To say we are shocked would be an understatement. The scars of this accident have not yet healed."
The crash comes weeks after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad in neighbouring India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
with DPA and AP
At least 31 people have been killed after a Bangladesh air force training jet crashed into a college and school campus in Dhaka, officials say, with 88 people, including children, being treated in hospital.
The aircraft crashed soon after it took off from an airbase in the capital on a routine training mission. The military said the plane experienced a mechanical failure.
Included in the toll were at least 25 students, a teacher who died from burn injuries she sustained while helping others get out of the burning building and the pilot of the training aircraft.
Bangladesh declared Tuesday a day of national mourning, with the flags flying at half-mast across the country.
The jet, a F-7 BGI, is the final and most advanced variant in China's Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, according to Jane's Information Group. Bangladesh signed a contract for 16 aircraft in 2011 and deliveries were completed by 2013.
Several hundred pupils demonstrated near the crash site on Tuesday, demanding a thorough investigation and an accurate death count.
The demonstration began as two senior advisers from the interim administration arrived at the scene.
The protesters chanted slogans such as "We want justice" and "Why did our brothers die? We demand answers!" effectively trapping the advisers and several senior officials inside the school building.
In a video message, Bangladesh's interim leader and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus promised an investigation into the accident.
"We will definitely investigate this incident, but these innocent children will never come back," he said.
"They are all our children, and they are gone forever. We are ensuring treatment for the injured, and everyone is making every effort for them," he added.
He expressed sympathy for the parents, relatives and friends of the deceased, saying: "To say we are shocked would be an understatement. The scars of this accident have not yet healed."
The crash comes weeks after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad in neighbouring India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
with DPA and AP
At least 31 people have been killed after a Bangladesh air force training jet crashed into a college and school campus in Dhaka, officials say, with 88 people, including children, being treated in hospital.
The aircraft crashed soon after it took off from an airbase in the capital on a routine training mission. The military said the plane experienced a mechanical failure.
Included in the toll were at least 25 students, a teacher who died from burn injuries she sustained while helping others get out of the burning building and the pilot of the training aircraft.
Bangladesh declared Tuesday a day of national mourning, with the flags flying at half-mast across the country.
The jet, a F-7 BGI, is the final and most advanced variant in China's Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, according to Jane's Information Group. Bangladesh signed a contract for 16 aircraft in 2011 and deliveries were completed by 2013.
Several hundred pupils demonstrated near the crash site on Tuesday, demanding a thorough investigation and an accurate death count.
The demonstration began as two senior advisers from the interim administration arrived at the scene.
The protesters chanted slogans such as "We want justice" and "Why did our brothers die? We demand answers!" effectively trapping the advisers and several senior officials inside the school building.
In a video message, Bangladesh's interim leader and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus promised an investigation into the accident.
"We will definitely investigate this incident, but these innocent children will never come back," he said.
"They are all our children, and they are gone forever. We are ensuring treatment for the injured, and everyone is making every effort for them," he added.
He expressed sympathy for the parents, relatives and friends of the deceased, saying: "To say we are shocked would be an understatement. The scars of this accident have not yet healed."
The crash comes weeks after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad in neighbouring India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
with DPA and AP

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Sydney Morning Herald
21 hours ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Trump uses trade threat to push for peace in call with leaders of Cambodia and Thailand
Both Thailand and Cambodia face a steep 36 per cent tariff on their exports to the United States, as part of Trump's trade war. The US is Thailand's biggest export customer. Earlier this week, Thailand said it was close to reaching a deal with the US that would see the tariff rate cut in exchange for allowing greater market access to US agricultural and industrial products. Thailand and Cambodia have faced off since the killing of a Cambodian soldier late in May during a brief skirmish. Troops on both sides of the border were reinforced amid a full-blown diplomatic crisis that brought Thailand's fragile coalition government to the brink of collapse. The tensions erupted on Thursday at as many as eight locations along the border, where sovereignty has been ambiguous for more than a century. Small arms fire escalated to heavy shelling of military targets on both sides, and Thailand said Cambodian rockets had also hit civilian areas, including a hospital. Phnom Penh said a Thai F-16 jet had bombed a road near the famous Preah Vihear Temple. At least 19 people – mostly civilians – have been killed so far in Thailand, while Cambodia said on Saturday that 12 more people had died on its side, bringing its toll to 13. Dozens of others have also been reported injured in the fighting. Both sides have now sought diplomatic support to end the conflict, saying they had acted in self-defence and calling on the other to cease fighting and start negotiations. Thailand's ambassador to the UN told an emergency meeting of the Security Council – called by Cambodia and held behind closed doors late on Friday in New York – that soldiers had been injured by landmines in Thai territory on two occasions since mid-July and that Cambodia had then launched attacks on Thursday morning. Cambodia has stated the landmines were leftovers from previous conflicts. 'Thailand urges Cambodia to immediately cease all hostilities and acts of aggression, and resume dialogue in good faith,' Cherdchai Chaivaivid told the council in remarks released to media. Cambodia has strongly denied the claims. Its defence ministry said Thailand had launched the 'deliberate, unprovoked, and unlawful military attack' on Thursday, and was now mobilising troops and military equipment on the border. Loading 'These deliberate military preparations reveal Thailand's intent to expand its aggression and further violate Cambodia's sovereignty,' the ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Cambodia's UN ambassador Chhea Keo told reporters after the security council meeting that his country had 'asked for immediate ceasefires, unconditionally, and we also call for the peaceful solution to the dispute'. He responded to accusations that Cambodia attacked Thailand, asking how a small country with no air force could attack a much larger country with an army three times its size, stressing: 'We do not do that.' Bangkok has reiterated it wanted to resolve the dispute bilaterally, telling the Security Council it was 'deeply regrettable that Cambodia has deliberately avoided meaningful dialogue and instead sought to internationalise the issue to serve its own political objectives'. Cambodia has also expressed outrage at Thailand's use of cluster munitions, calling it a violation of international law. Thailand's military, however, said the country was not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions, but that it followed the principle of proportionality, 'to enhance explosive destruction capabilities against military targets only'. The Security Council did not issue a statement, but a diplomat said all 15 members called on the parties to de-escalate, show restraint and resolve the dispute peacefully. The council also urged the regional bloc, the Association of South-East Asian Nations – known as ASEAN – to help resolve the border fighting, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private. Malaysia, which chairs the 10-nation regional bloc that includes both countries, called for an end to hostilities and offered to mediate. Loading Australia and Britain have issued travel advisories to avoid certain areas of Cambodia and Thailand, including the border regions of Buriram, Si Sa Ket, Surin, and Ubon Ratchathani provinces. As the fighting intensified, villagers on both sides have been caught in the crossfire, leading many to flee. About 600 people took shelter at a gymnasium in a university in Surin, Thailand, some 80 kilometres from the border. Evacuees sat in groups, on mats and blankets, and queued for food and drinks. Seamstress Pornpan Sooksai was accompanied by four cats in two fabric carriers. She said she was doing laundry at her home near Ta Muen Thom temple when shelling began on Thursday. 'I just heard, boom, boom. We already prepared the cages, clothes and everything, so we ran and carried our things to the car. I was frightened, scared,' she recalled. Rattana Meeying, another evacuee, said she had also lived through the 2011 clashes between the two countries but described this flare-up as worse. 'Children, old people, were hit out of the blue,' she said. 'I never imagined it would be this violent.' In the Kantharalak district of Thailand's Sisaket province, on the border near some of the clashes, hotel worker Chianuwat Thalalai said the town had emptied. 'Nearly everybody's gone, it's almost a deserted city,' the 31-year-old told Reuters. 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SBS Australia
3 days ago
- SBS Australia
Armed conflict erupts along Thailand/Cambodia border
An early morning clash along a disputed border area between Thailand and Cambodia has erupted into rare armed conflict. What started as small arms fire quickly escalated to heavy shelling in at least six locations, with at least fourteen people, mostly civilians, killed already. Both sides are blaming each other for the provocation, which comes as just the latest clash in a dispute that dates back over a century. The latest escalation of fighting came after a Thai soldier reportedly lost a limb, and another four were wounded in a landmine explosion, which Thai authorities say were laid by Cambodian forces. Hours after Thailand responded by expelling the Cambodian ambassador and recalling its own, violence broke out at the border. While Thailand says the landmine explosion was a result of Cambodia's aggression, Cambodia says Thai forces were on Cambodian territory. Thailand's Deputy Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs, Ms Maratee Nalita Andamo, says Thailand condemns what they claim was Cambodia's violation of Thai sovereignty. "Following, unfortunately, yet another landmine incident which occurred yesterday evening, 23rd of July 2025, where a further five Royal Thai Army personnel stepped on another landmine in Chong An Ma area, Ubon Ratchathani province, again, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemns in the strongest terms this act as an egregious violation of Thailand's sovereignty, territorial integrity and the Ottawa Convention." With ground troops and tanks deployed along the border, thousands of people have evacuated from the area. Sitting in a tent beside her elderly mother, 53-year-old Ngerntra Pranoram is taking shelter in the Surin province, along the border of Thailand. She says she was taking care of her mother when they started hearing gun shots, then explosions. "We were shocked too. Nobody wants this to happen. I feel for the elderly and the disabled. It's very difficult for them to get here. It's a real struggle. Some people have cars, which is good, but for those who don't, it's really hard. We feel for them, we sympathise, but we don't know how to help. We also have elderly people with us, so we try to help as much as we can." On the other side, in the dark of night, a stream of Cambodian villagers and their families fled atop tractors, loaded up with their belongings The displaced villagers set up a tent camp about 30 kilometres from the border. Tep Savouen, a 45-year-old mother of four, says she and her children were forced to flee. 'It was about 8 o'clock this morning. Suddenly, I heard a loud noise. My son told me it might be thunder and I thought, 'is it thunder or is it loud, more like a gun?' At that time I was very scared.' Fighting broke out in an area known as the Emerald Triangle. On Thursday, Cambodian forces fired rockets and artillery shells into Thailand as Thai forces scrambled F-16 jets to carry out air strikes on six locations. Cambodian government spokesperson Pen Bona says Thailand is trying to claim Cambodian land. 'In conclusion, everything that happened today is caused by Thailand. Please remember, brothers and sisters and the international community, that Thailand open fired on us because they want our land.' Both Thailand and Cambodia claim ownership of Prasat Preah Vihear and Prasat Ta Muen Thom, ancient temples built on the mountains that divide them. In 1907, the French colony of Cambodia and the independent Kingdom of Siam, as Thailand was known until 1939, signed a treaty delineating the border between them. However, the treaty map differed from the treaty text and left Preah Vihear on the French side. In 1962, the International Court of Justice ruled that, as per the agreement, the temple belongs to Cambodia. Cambodia requested I-C-J intervention in the matter just last month, Pen Bona says it is now clear why they did. "Thailand's attacks are aimed at taking Cambodia land which is another reason that I think the international community as well as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) can clearly see the purpose of the royal government of Cambodia in bringing this case to the court to solve, so surely Cambodia will come out ahead in this case." Tensions have been simmering since May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a border skirmish. Relations deteriorated dramatically last month when Cambodia's President Hun Sen humiliated the Thai leader by leaking a phone call between them discussing the border tensions. In the phone call, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called the Cambodian leader 'uncle', and even criticised her own military commanders. Sparking public anger, Prime Minister Shinawatra has since been suspended from office pending an ethics probe. 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News.com.au
3 days ago
- News.com.au
Thailand says over 100,000 civilians flee clashes with Cambodia
More than 100,000 people have fled the bloodiest border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia in a decade, Bangkok said Friday, as the death toll rose and international powers urged a halt to hostilities. A long-running border dispute erupted into intense fighting with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, and the UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis later Friday. The Thai interior ministry said more than 100,000 people from four border provinces had been moved to nearly 300 temporary shelters, while the kingdom's health ministry announced that the death toll had risen to 14 -- 13 civilians and one soldier. In the Cambodian town of Samraong, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the border, AFP journalists reported hearing distant artillery fire on Friday morning. As the guns started up, some families packed their children and belongings into vehicles and sped away. "I live very close to the border. We are scared because they began shooting again at about 6:00 am," Pro Bak, 41, told AFP. He was taking his wife and children to a Buddhist temple to seek refuge. "I don't know when we could return home," he said. AFP journalists also saw soldiers rushing to man rocket launchers and speeding off towards the frontier. - Calls for calm - The fighting marks a dramatic escalation in a long-running dispute between the neighbours -- both popular destinations for millions of foreign tourists -- over their shared 800-kilometre (500-mile) frontier. Dozens of kilometres in several areas are contested and fighting broke out between 2008 and 2011, leaving at least 28 people dead and tens of thousands displaced. A UN court ruling in 2013 settled the matter for over a decade, but the current crisis erupted in May when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a new clash. Fighting on Thursday was focused on six locations, according to the Thai army, including around two ancient temples. Ground troops backed up by tanks battled for control of territory, while Cambodia fired rockets and shells into Thailand and the Thais scrambled F-16 jets to hit military targets across the border. Both sides blamed each other for firing first, while Thailand accused Cambodia of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital hit by shells and a petrol station hit by at least one rocket. Thursday's clashes came hours after Thailand expelled the Cambodian ambassador and recalled its own envoy after five members of a Thai military patrol were wounded by a landmine. Cambodia downgraded ties to "the lowest level" on Thursday, pulling out all but one of its diplomats and expelling their Thai equivalents from Phnom Penh. At the request of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, the UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the deadly clashes, diplomatic sources told AFP. The United States urged an "immediate" end to the conflict, while Cambodia's former colonial ruler France made a similar call. The EU and China -- a close ally of Phnom Penh -- said they were "deeply concerned" about the clashes, calling for dialogue.