Staff Reporter:
The wreckage of the training fighter aircraft ‘YAK 130’ of Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) that crashed in the River Karnaphuli in the port city was recovered by the Bangladesh Navy on Thursday night.
Sources said the wreckage was found from the river near HM Steel factory adjacent to Juldha Matbar ghat in the city’s Karnaphuli area at around 10:15 pm.
However, the rescue operation was not declared over immediately.
The damaged aircraft was recovered with the help of Bangladesh Navy’s Floating Crane ‘BNFC Balaban’ after a frantic effort of nearly 11 hours, they said.
Earlier, A pilot was killed and another injured after a Yak-130 training aircraft of the Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) crashed into the Karnaphuli River here on Thursday.
The deceased was identified as Squadron Leader Asim Jawad while the injured was Wing Commander Mohammad Sohan Hasan of the BAF.
Inter Services Public Relation (ISPR) Directorate said the BAF training aircraft took off from the BAF Base Zahurul Haque in Chattogram around 10:25am as part of regular training. It met the accident due to technical glitches while it was returning to the base after the training session.
The rescuers of the BAF and Bangladesh Navy rescued the pilots in injured condition with the help of local fishermen from the river. They were taken to the city’s Navy Hospital at BNS Issa Khan where doctors declared Asim dead, said ISPR.
An operation to recover the crashed plane was going on in the river. After the plane caught fire, the pilots managed to move the plane from the densely populated area near the airport to the sparsely populated one with great courage and skills to avoid major damage, reads the statement.
A high-level investigation committee of the BAF has been formed to reveal the cause behind the accident, it added.
