Bangladesh jet crash: Eyewitnesses recall children running whose ‘bodies were on fire', ‘friend died in front of eyes'

Mint

22-07-2025

Eyewitnesses have described the horrifying Bangladeshi Air Force's F-7 jet crash incident that killed at least 27 when the Chinese made aircraft went down at Milestone School in Uttara neighbourhood of Dhaka on July 21. Purnima Das who is a teacher there recalled that she saw children running and their bodies on fire. Another's friend died in front of his eyes.
'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,' Das recounted in a Facebook post.
She added, '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.'
According to Farhan, he saw the plane—engulfed in flames—hitting the building and his best friend died right in front of his eyes.
'My best friend, the one I was in the exam hall with, he died right in front of my eyes. In front of my eyes... the plane went right over his head. And many parents were standing inside because the younger kids were coming out since it was the end of the school day... the plane took the parents along with it," BBC Bangla quoted Farhan who was speaking in the presence of his uncle and father.
Video footage from a school in a northern suburb of Dhaka captures a massive fire and dense smoke following the aircraft's collision with a two-storey building. Over 170 people sustained injuries in the crash. The country's military said it took off from Bangladesh Air Force Base A K Khandaker in Dhaka's Kurmitola area at 1:06 pm local time and crashed shortly afterward.
The aircraft 'directly' struck the building, Rezaul Islam, a teacher told BBC. 'When I looked back, I only saw fire and smoke... There were many guardians and kids here,' Reuters quoted another teacher, Masud Tarik who heard the explosion as saying.
A woman, who was present at the scene and looking for information, said she had not talked to her son since their last call following the crash.
Shah Alam, the uncle of a Year 8 boy, Tanvir Ahmed, who lost his life in the crash, was inside the hospital with other relative of those killed. He said, 'My beloved nephew is in the morgue right now."
The majority of the victims at the burns hospital are minors, mostly aged between 9 and 14. Many came to the hospital to donate blood, and several politicians from the two leading parties, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami, also paid visits.
'I express deep shock and sorrow over the tragic incident of the Bangladesh Air Force F-7 BGI training aircraft crash on the campus of Milestone School and College in the Diabari area of the capital today, which resulted in casualties,' Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser of the interim government stated. He added, 'The loss suffered by the air force personnel, students, parents, teachers, staff of Milestone School and College, and others in this accident is irreparable. This is a moment of deep grief for the nation.'