Staff Reporter:
At least 20 people including the pilot were killed and 171 injured after a Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) FT-7 BGI fighter aircraft crashed into a building of Milestone School and College in the capital’s Uttara area yesterday, an ISPR press release said.
“Twenty people including Flight Lieutenant Toukir Islam have so far been killed and 171 others injured in the crash,” the release said.
Of the injured, eight were undergoing treatment at Kuwait Bangladesh Friendship Government Hospital, 70 in The National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery (NIBPS), three in Dhaka Medical College Hos-pital (DMCH), 17 in Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Dhaka, one in Kurmitotal General Hospital, 11 in Lubana General Hospital and Cardiac Centre, 60 in Uttara Adhunik Medical College Hospital and one in Uttara Crescent Hospital, it said.
The training aircraft crash took place due to mechanical fault (the details of which will be informed after investigation) after taking off from the Bangladesh Air Force Base AK Khandaker in Kurmitola at 01:06pm yesterday as part of a regular training, the ISPR said.
All the injured were quickly shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) and nearby hospitals with the help of Air Force helicopters and ambulances.
The ISPR said the pilot made every effort to take the aircraft from a densely populated area to a sparsely populated area and to deal with the accident and avoid major damage.
But unfortunately, the aircraft crashed in an unexpected accident in a two-story building of Milestone School and College at Diabari in Uttara, Dhaka, it said.
Bangladesh Air Force is deeply shocked by the unfortunate accident and is actively providing all-round assistance including treatment to the injured, the release said.
A high-level investigation committee of the Air Force has already been formed to find out the cause of the accident, it added.
As the Air Chief is out of the country on an official visit, the Assistant Air Chief (Administration), sen-ior Air Force officers and rescue teams are present at the accident site.
The Army Chief, Principal Staff Officer, Armed Forces Division and senior military and government officials were present.
Following the crash, the Army, Air Force, Police, RAB and Fire Service and Civil Defence have been continuing rescue operations at the accident site and are making every effort to resolve the situation.
A BAF FT7 jet crashed into a building of Milestone School and College building around 1:18pm yester-day, fire service sources said.
Director General (DG) Fire Service and Civil Defense (FSCD) Brigadier General Muhammad Jahed in a press briefing held at the accident site said that they recovered 19 bodies from the place of occurrence.
Three platoons BGB have been deployed at the place of occurrence to assist the law enforcement and rescue operations, according to a BGB press release.
An emergency hotline number 01949-043697 has been launched at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery following the jet crash.
One coach of the metro trains departing from Uttara has been kept reserved to transport the injured from the Milestone College.
The government has declared a one-day state mourning following the crash of Air Force aircraft at Mile-stone College in Dhaka’s Uttara.
The mourning day will be observed tomorrow (Tuesday). Following this, the national flag will be flown at half-mast at all government, semi-government, autonomous institutions, and educational establish-ments across the country.
Additionally, the flag will be lowered at all government and private buildings, as well as at Bangladeshi missions abroad.
Special prayers will be held in all religious places of worship throughout the country for the injured and deceased.
Chief Adviser to the interim government Professor Dr. Muhammad Yunus has expressed deep shock and sorrow over the casualties in a tragic Bangladesh Air Force F-7 BGI training aircraft crash on the Mile-stone School and College campus at Diabari in the capital today.
“I express deep shock and sorrow over the casualties in the aircraft crash,” he said in a statement issued by the Chief Adviser’s Press Wing this afternoon.
The government has given emergency contact numbers for searching missing students following the air-craft crash at Milestone College in Dhaka’s Uttara.
The numbers are Military Rescue Brigade-01769024202, CMH Burn Unit-01769016019, CMH Emer-gency-01769013311, Milestone School Admin Officer-01814774132, its Vice Principal-01771111766, according to Chief Adviser’s Press Wing.
National Emergency Number 999 will connect the callers to the burn units from the Emergency Cell of Bangladesh Police.
Hundreds of people from different classes and professions have rushed the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery (NIBPS) to donate blood to the victims of the jet crash.
The public is being specially requested not to crowd unnecessarily in the hospital area in the interest of providing uninterrupted medical treatment.
