"Colleague Collapsed Pleading To Be Saved": Dhaka Teacher On Crash Horror

NDTV

22-07-2025

For Purnima Das, Monday was another usual day. The teacher at Milestone School in Dhaka's Uttara neighbourhood had just finished one of the classes and returned to the faculty room when she was startled by a loud bang. As she rushed out to grasp what had unfolded, a horrific scene awaited her in the corridor - of children running in panic and their bodies on fire.
The school was the site of a deadly fighter jet crash last morning that left 19 dead, including 16 children and pilot Flight Lieutenant Toukir Islam. Two of Ms Das's colleagues were also among the victims. Over 100 others were injured; some suffered severe burns.
Ms Das had just crossed the corridor that went up in flames after the crash. The building held classes for mostly primary and secondary students.
"By then, 80% of the children in that building had gone home. And then there was a terrible noise in the building, before I knew it, I saw little children running. I saw that their bodies were on fire," recalled Ms Das in a Facebook post.
She said she rushed to the washroom and poured water on a few students who had suffered burns. By that time, both fire and panic had spread to the rest of the school. A teacher, meanwhile, screamed to vacate the rooms.
"When I came out of the room, I saw so much fire. The entire corridor was on fire. Just two feet away, a colleague of mine had run into the fire and collapsed while pleading to be saved. His whole body was burned. I stood there like a stone. Someone pulled me away and we were taken out," said Ms Das.
When she returned after five minutes, she said she saw the burnt bodies of the young students in the building. "Why didn't I get a scratch, why nothing happened to me, I don't know. The faces of those little children are floating before my eyes," said the traumatised teacher.
The trauma took a heavy toll on the students as well, having to witness their classmates burn to death. The plant hit the school building right before my eyes, recounted Farhan Hasan, who had just finished an exam and left the classroom.
The mother of an injured student at a hospital after the deadly crash
"My best friend, the one I was in the exam hall with, he died right in front of my eyes," he told BBC Bangla.
Masud Tarik, another teacher at the school, recalled that he heard an explosion and turned around to see only fire and smoke. Speaking to Reuters, he said, "When I was picking (up) my kids and went to the gate, I realised something came from behind...I heard an explosion. When I looked back, I only saw fire and smoke."
The F-7BGI aircraft, an advanced version of the Chinese J-7 fighter, was on a training flight when it crashed into the school building in the bustling neighbourhood. The jet had suffered a mechanical fault and crashed while trying to navigate to a less populated area, according to a statement by the armed forces.
The plane "directly" hit the building, a teacher, Rezaul Islam, told the BBC.
The injured are being treated at seven hospitals. At least 25 of them are critical. A probe committee has been formed to investigate the crash.