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ABC News
6 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Teacher dies saving students from Bangladesh jet crash inferno
A teacher is being praised for her bravery after losing her life saving students when a Bangladesh Air Force fighter jet crashed into her school and erupted in a fireball. Maherin Chowdhury, a 46-year-old English teacher, went back again and again into a burning classroom to rescue her students on Monday when a F-7 BGI Bangladesh Air Force crashed into the school, trapping them in fire and debris. Even as her own clothes were engulfed in flames, she continued, her brother, Munaf Mojib Chowdhury, told the Reuters news agency by telephone. Ms Chowdhury died on Monday after suffering near-total burns to her body. She is survived by her husband and two teenage sons. "When her husband called her, pleading with her to leave the scene and think of her children, she refused, saying, 'They are also my children. They are burning. How can I leave them?'" Mr Chowdhury said. At least 29 people, most of them children, were killed in the incident. The military said the aircraft suffered mechanical failure. He added that he found out about his sister's act of bravery when he visited the hospital and met students she rescued. The jet had taken off from a nearby air base on a routine training mission, the military said. After experiencing mechanical failure, the pilot tried to divert the aircraft away from populated areas, but it crashed into the campus. The pilot was among those killed. "When the plane crashed and fire broke out, everyone was running to save their lives. She [Ms Chowdhury] ran to save others," Khadija Akter, the headmistress of the school's primary section, told Reuters. She was buried on Tuesday in her home district of Nilphamari, in northern Bangladesh. Students from the school and others from nearby colleges protested as two government officials visited the crash site. The students demanded an accurate death toll and shouted: "Why did our brothers die? We demand answers!" Elsewhere in the capital, hundreds of protesting students, some of them waving sticks, broke through the main gate of the federal government secretariat, demanding the resignation of the education adviser, according to local TV footage. Witnesses said police with batons charged towards them, fired tear gas and used sound grenades to disperse the crowd, leaving dozens injured. Dhaka Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Talebur Rahman said the officers had to use tear gas to disperse the protesters. He said he did not have information about the number of injured. The protesting students called for those killed and injured to be named, the decommissioning of what they said were old and risky jets, and a change in air force training procedures. A statement from the press office of Bangladesh's interim administrator said the government, the military, school and hospital authorities were working together to publish a list of victims. It also said the air force would be told not to operate training aircraft in populated areas. The 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, an open-source intelligence company. Bangladesh signed a contract for 16 aircraft in 2011 and deliveries were completed by 2013. The Chengdu F-7 is the licence-built version of the Soviet era MiG-21. Reuters
Reuters
6 days ago
- General
- Reuters
Teacher dies saving students from inferno in Bangladesh jet crash
DHAKA, July 23 (Reuters) - When a Bangladesh Air Force fighter jet crashed into her school and erupted in a fireball on Monday, Maherin Chowdhury rushed to save some of the hundreds of students and teachers facing mortal danger, placing their safety before her own. The 46-year-old English teacher went back again and again into a burning classroom to rescue her students, even as her own clothes were engulfed in flames, her brother, Munaf Mojib Chowdhury, told Reuters by telephone. Maherin died on Monday after suffering near total burns on her body. She is survived by her husband and two teenaged sons. "When her husband called her, pleading with her to leave the scene and think of her children, she refused, saying 'they are also my children, they are burning. How can I leave them?'" Chowdhury said. At least 29 people, most of them children, were killed when the F-7 BGI crashed into the school, trapping them in fire and debris. The military said the aircraft had suffered mechanical failure. "I don't know exactly how many she saved, but it may have been at least 20. She pulled them out with her own hands," he said, adding that he found out about his sister's act of bravery when he visited the hospital and met students she had rescued. The jet had taken off from a nearby air base on a routine training mission, the military said. After experiencing mechanical failure the pilot tried to divert the aircraft away from populated areas, but it crashed into the campus. The pilot was among those killed. "When the plane crashed and fire broke out, everyone was running to save their lives, she ran to save others," Khadija Akter, the headmistress of the school's primary section, told Reuters on phone about Maherin. She was buried on Tuesday in her home district of Nilphamari, in northern Bangladesh.
Reuters
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Students protest in Bangladesh after air force jet crash kills 31, mostly children
DHAKA, July 22 (Reuters) - National mourning turned to anger in Bangladesh on Tuesday as the death toll from a fighter jet crash into a school in Dhaka jumped to 31, sparking protests by hundreds of students against the interim government in a country gripped by instability. At least 25 of the dead were children, many under the age of 12, who were about to return home on Monday when the Chinese-manufactured F-7 BGI Bangladesh Air Force jet ploughed into Milestone School and College and burst into flames, trapping pupils in the fire and building debris. Their fellow students and others from nearby schools protested as two government officials visited the crash site, demanding justice and shouting, "Why did our brothers die? We demand answers!" Elsewhere in the capital, hundreds of protesting students, some of them waving sticks, broke through the main gate of the federal government secretariat, demanding the resignation of the education adviser, local TV footage showed. Police baton charged them and forced them out. Rescue workers continued to scour the charred buildings for debris on Tuesday as distressed residents of the area looked on. Some parents were inconsolable. "I took her to school yesterday morning like every day. I had no idea it would be the last time I would be seeing her," said Abul Hossain, breaking down as he spoke about his nine-year-old daughter, Nusrat Jahan Anika, killed in the crash. She was buried on Monday night. Rubina Akter said her son Raiyan Toufiq had a miraculous escape after his shirt caught fire when he was on a staircase. "He sprinted to the ground floor and jumped on the grass to douse it," she said. "He tore his shirt and vest inside which saved him from severe burns." The jet had taken off from a nearby air base on a routine training mission, the military said, adding the plane experienced a mechanical failure and the pilot was among those killed. Although he tried to divert the aircraft away from populated areas, the jet crashed into the campus. On Tuesday, the military said in a statement that 31 people had died and 165 had been admitted to hospitals in the city. The health ministry later said 70 were still under treatment. The government announced a day of mourning, with flags at half-mast and special prayers at all places of worship. The protesting students called for those killed and injured to be named, for air force compensation to the families of those killed, the decommissioning of what they said were old and risky jets, and a changing of air force training procedures. A statement from the press office of Muhammad Yunus, the country's interim administrator, said that the government, the military, school and hospital authorities were working together to publish a list of victims. It also said the air force will be instructed to not operate training aircraft in populated areas. The 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. The Chengdu F-7 is the licence-built version of the Soviet era MiG-21. The incident comes as neighbour India is still grappling with the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad last month, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground. Bangladesh has faced months of political uncertainty after then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was forced to flee the country last August following weeks of deadly student protests. The interim government of Nobel laureate Yunus has promised to hold elections next year amid mounting demands from political parties to advance them.
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First Post
22-07-2025
- General
- First Post
Is Chinese-origin jet to blame for Bangladesh air force plane crash?
Bangladesh witnessed one of the deadliest aviation disasters in recent memory after a Chinese-origin fighter jet crashed into a school and college campus in Dhaka, killing over 25 people, including several children, and injuring more than 170 others. A high-level investigation is underway to uncover the exact cause of the fatal crash, as the Bangladesh air force's Chinese-origin F7 BGI plane is under the scanner read more Members of Bangladesh Airforce investigate on the site, after an air force training aircraft crashed into a building belong to Milestone School and College campus, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 22, 2025. Reuters Monday turned into a day of mourning and shock in Bangladesh after a military jet crashed into a school campus in Dhaka, killing over 25 people, including the pilot and several children, and injuring more than 170 others. The crash, one of the deadliest aviation disasters in the country's recent memory, took place shortly after the Chinese-origin F-7 BGI fighter jet took off from the Air Force Base AK Khandaker. Within minutes, it plummeted into Milestone School and College in Uttara, just as students were lining up to leave for the day. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Scenes of chaos unfolded almost instantly, smoke billowed over the site, flames engulfed parts of the school, and screams echoed through the building. Parents, locals, and emergency responders rushed in to pull the injured from the rubble. The government has since declared a national day of mourning, while a high-level investigation is underway to uncover what led to the fatal crash. Here's what we know so far. 'Saw little children running, saw bodies on fire' Purnima Das, a teacher at Milestone School and College, had just returned to the faculty room after finishing a class when a loud bang shook the building. Startled, she rushed out to understand what had happened — only to be met with a horrifying scene. Flames had engulfed the school corridor, and smoke was quickly filling the two-storey building. The section of the school that was hit housed mostly primary and secondary students. 'By then, 80 per cent 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," Das wrote in a post on Facebook. Firefighters and army members work next to the wreckage of an air force training aircraft after it crashed into Milestone College campus, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 21, 2025. Reuters In the chaos, she ran to the washroom and splashed water on some of the students who had suffered burns, hoping to relieve their pain. But panic and fire were already spreading rapidly across the school. '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. He fell at my feet, pleading to be saved. His whole body was burned. I stood there like a stone. Someone pulled me away, and we were taken out," she recalled. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The aircraft involved was an F-7BGI, an advanced model of China's J-7 fighter jet, which had been on a training flight and took off from the air force base, just about 11 kilometres away. A desperate search for the loved ones The emotional and psychological impact of the crash has deeply scarred students and their families, many of whom witnessed the unthinkable. Farhan Hasan, a student who had just stepped out of an exam room, said he saw the jet hit the school with his own eyes. 'The plane hit the school building right before my eyes,' he told BBC Bangla. 'My best friend, the one I was in the exam hall with, he died right in front of my eyes.' Women react at the site of a At the crash site, panic quickly turned into desperation. Families scrambled for news about their children, and chaos unfolded both on the ground and at nearby hospitals. Jewel, a father who goes by one name, was among those waiting in agony to find out whether his daughter had survived. 'The plane crashed on the building where my daughter was. My wife called me, but I was praying so I could not pick up,' he told the AP. 'When I came here I saw there was a huge fire. There was a dead body of a child.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Fortunately, his daughter made it out alive. But many others were not as lucky. 'I saw many other children suffering from burns,' he said. Outside the school and at nearby medical centres, panic unfolded. Ambulances, rickshaws, and even the arms of firefighters and parents were used to carry the injured. Members of Bangladesh Airforce work at the site, after an air force training aircraft crashed into a building belong to Milestone School and College campus, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, July 22, 2025. Reuters Several victims were rushed to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), while others were transported via Air Force helicopters and emergency vans, local media reported. Rescue operations saw the army, air force, police, and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) jointly carrying out rescue and relief efforts, according to the Dhaka Tribune. Bangladesh's interim Prime Minister, Muhammad Yunus, expressed deep sorrow over the tragedy and pledged a full investigation. He announced on social media that an emergency hotline had also been set up at the school to assist families. PM Narendra Modi also expressed solidarity with Bangladesh in a statement, saying, 'Our hearts go out to the bereaved families. India stands in solidarity with Bangladesh and is ready to extend all possible support and assistance.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Twenty bodies have been handed over to their families. Some of the charred bodies were beyond recognition, and they might need DNA tests for matching, reports AP. A blood donation camp has been opened at a specialised burn hospital where most of the injured were being treated. Experts point to the Chinese jet's poor track record Authorities say the fatal crash that turned a school campus into a site of devastation was caused by a technical failure. According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Directorate, the Bangladesh Air Force FT-7 BGI fighter jet developed a 'technical malfunction' shortly after it took off. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Md Towkir Islam Sagar, tried to steer the jet away from the densely populated neighbourhood of Uttara. But despite his efforts, the aircraft ended up crashing into a two-storey school building, killing himself and many others on the ground. The ISPR also confirmed that a high-level investigation committee has been formed by the Air Force to determine what exactly went wrong. However, aviation experts are already pointing towards the aircraft's troubling history. A former Bangladesh Air Force officer told Dhaka Tribune on condition of anonymity that the Chinese origin of the plane may be linked to the crash. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Bangladesh Air Force J-7BGI in 2018. Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons 'Chinese aircraft are one of the main reasons behind these repeated crashes, yet the Air Force continues to use them due to various constraints,' the retired officer said. Military data cited by the same report reveal that out of 11 crashes over the past two decades, seven involved China-manufactured aircraft. The remaining four were linked to three Russian-made jets and one Czech-made. The aircraft involved, the F-7 BGI, is a Chinese-made light, multi-role fighter jet developed by the Chengdu Aircraft Corporation. Designed to perform a wide range of missions, from air-to-air combat and aerial bombing to reconnaissance and defence suppression, this model was regarded as an upgrade when Bangladesh purchased 36 of them in 2022, customised to meet military requirements. Others say that poor urban planning and violations of safety regulations may have contributed to the disaster. The area where the plane crashed used to be clear land, but unchecked development has transformed it into a densely populated area. Referring to the incident, a retired air official told Dhaka Tribune, 'Towkir (Pilot)… was approaching for landing, and the crash site was near his middle marker line… This area should have been cleared, but urban development took place on what used to be an empty canal.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD He added that basic flight safety protocols were not being followed. 'Regardless of the location, at least an eight-nautical-mile obstacle-free fly zone is required for safe landings. But we are not following these rules. Even our approach lines are obstructed by numerous obstacles,' he said. On Tuesday, a national day of mourning is being observed across Bangladesh with flags flown at half-mast in all government offices, semi-government bodies, autonomous institutions, and educational campuses. With input from agencies
Zawya
22-07-2025
- General
- Zawya
A Bangladesh Air Force training jet crashes into Dhaka school, killing at least 19
DHAKA: A Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft crashed into a school campus in the capital, Dhaka, shortly after takeoff on Monday, killing at least 19 people including the pilot and injuring more than 100, officials said. According to the military and a fire official, the Chinese-made F-7 BGI aircraft crashed into the campus of Milestone School and College, in the Uttara neighborhood, in the afternoon as students were attending classes. The Fire Service and Civil Defense said that at least 19 people, mostly students, died and another 116 were rescued with injuries. A significant number sustained burn injuries.
