Bangladesh mourns 31 dead in jet crash as students protest to demand accountability
The death toll from the crash rose to 31 on Tuesday, including 25 students, a teacher who died from burn injuries she sustained while helping others get out of the burning building, and the pilot of the training aircraft.
Firefighters further secured the scene of the crash in Dhaka's densely-populated Uttara neighborhood while an investigation by the military was ongoing. The country's civil aviation authority was not involved in the investigation directly.
Bangladesh, in shock after the crash involving its air force, marked Tuesday as a national day of mourning, with the national flag flying at half-staff across the country.
Monday's crash at the Milestone School and College caused a fire that left the two-story school building in Dhaka in flames. Officials said 171 people, mostly students and many with burns, were rescued and taken from the scene in helicopters, ambulances, motorized rickshaws and in the arms of firefighters and parents.
The students protesting outside the crash site at the Milestone School and College demanded 'accurate' publication of identities of the dead and injured, compensation for the families, and an immediate halt to the use of 'outdated and unsafe' training aircraft by the Bangladesh air force.
They chanted slogans and accused security officials of beating them and manhandling teachers on Monday.
The students also became furious after two senior government advisers arrived at the scene, forcing the officials to take cover.
On Tuesday, 78 people, mostly students, remained hospitalized, said Sayeedur Rahman, a special assistant to Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus. Twenty deaths were reported initially, and seven died of their injuries overnight, authorities said.
Maherin Chowdhury, a teacher who rescued more than 20 students from the burning school, died from severe burn injuries, her colleague Tanzina Tanu said.
Doctors said late Monday that the condition of about two dozen injured remained critical. A blood donation camp has been opened at a specialized burn hospital where most of the injured were being treated.
Twenty bodies have been handed over to their families, with some of them possibly needing DNA matching after they were charred beyond recognition. Many relatives waited overnight at a specialized burn hospital for the bodies of their loved ones.
The Chinese-made F-7 BGI training aircraft experienced a 'technical malfunction' moments after takeoff from the A.K. Khandaker air force base at 1:06 p.m. Monday, according to a statement from the military.
The pilot, Flight Lt. Mohammed Toukir Islam, made 'every effort to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas toward a more sparsely inhabited location,' the military said, adding that it would investigate the cause of the crash.
The Milestone school, about an 11-kilometer (7-mile) drive from the air force base, is in a densely populated area near a metro station and numerous shops and homes.
It was the pilot's first solo flight as he was completing his training course. It remained unclear if he managed to eject before the jet hit the building.
The first funeral prayers were held for the pilot in Dhaka on Tuesday morning and second prayers will be held in southwestern Rajshahi district where his parents live.
It is the deadliest plane crash in the Bangladeshi capital in recent memory. In 2008, another F-7 training jet crashed outside Dhaka, killing its pilot, who had ejected after he discovered a technical problem.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Australia's parliament opens with tradition and pageantry – plus a sideshow of protest and reactionary zeal
Just as the governor general, Sam Mostyn, was preparing to address the ceremonial opening of federal parliament this week, word got around the press gallery that One Nation was preparing to mount a stunt. Along with veterans Pauline Hanson and Malcolm Roberts, One Nation's two new senators, Warwick Stacey from New South Wales and Tyron Whitten from Western Australia, had quietly let it be known they would turn their back on the Indigenous acknowledgment of country. Tuesday's opening was dominated by tradition and pageantry, including a welcome to country event in the Great Hall and a smoking ceremony on the forecourt earlier in the afternoon. Usually sparsely occupied, the Senate press gallery was packed with reporters but, initially at least, One Nation's statement failed to eventuate. During the speech – a laundry list of the government's policy commitments for the upcoming term, read by the king's representative in Canberra – Greens deputy leader, Mehreen Faruqi, held up a sign protesting against the starvation and suffering caused by Israel's denial of aid for Palestinians in Gaza. That move saw Faruqi sanctioned by the Senate a day later. Labor and the Coalition voted to bar her from taking part in any overseas parliamentary delegations for the next three years, and the Senate president, Sue Lines, called her 'utterly disrespectful' to Mostyn. The debate was at times bitter. Later, as the normal business of parliament got under way at about 5pm, the One Nation foursome turned their backs as Lines made the routine acknowledgment of Canberra's traditional custodians, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and Indigenous elders around the country. The statement took barely 10 seconds, before Hanson, Roberts, Stacey and Whitten were forced into an awkward pivot to avoid snubbing the Lord's Prayer. Sign up: AU Breaking News email For decades, Hanson has weaponised the politics of grievance, including punching down on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. She was on Sky on Tuesday evening to say she was fed up with the practice of acknowledging Indigenous communities, erroneously calling the brief statement a welcome to country, before claiming the longstanding practice somehow 'disenfranchised' her. In reality, the stunt wasn't for the press gallery or other members, but rather it was orchestrated to be quickly packaged up for One Nation's social media followers. Ironically, Hanson then criticised Victorian independent senator Lidia Thorpe for making protests that disrupt parliamentary traditions in Canberra, before claiming it was Labor that was driving division in the community. Sky host Chris Kenny pointed out that some people consider the acknowledgment overdone elsewhere but it was surely appropriate at the start of a sitting of the country's parliament. He suggested participation by Hanson's crew would be the polite approach. The firebrand senator was unmoved. Not to be outdone, Coalition MPs did their best to overshadow Sussan Ley's first question time as opposition leader in the lower house, with Nationals backbenchers Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack making a splash on their new partnership to officially oppose net zero some time this year. Joyce has a private member's bill on the issue, and despite reviews being under way in both the Liberal and Nationals party rooms, he and McCormack came out to call plans to wind back damaging carbon emissions 'insane'. Farmers, they claimed, are fed up with infrastructure for renewable energy taking up prime agricultural land – the MPs failed to acknowledge that drought, floods and less predictable rain patterns caused by climate change are making life for farmers worse. Some Coalition figures consider net zero one of the most politically complex issues facing the Liberals and Nationals in decades, with both parties facing a likely impossible task of trying to reconcile disparate policies in time for the next election. One Nationals figure compared the two former leaders to old bulls bored after being put out to pasture. The rightwing MPs determined to keep fighting the climate wars look out of touch, long after voters have made up their minds on the subject. It shouldn't be lost on anyone that both Joyce and McCormack have previously argued for net zero and Labor's ascendancy could render the Coalition's policy position pretty meaningless for at least three – possibly six – years to come. By Friday, the Liberal Senate leader, Michaelia Cash, was arguing against acknowledgment of country and the Aboriginal flag being displayed at official events. Cash endorsed motions to be debated at the weekend's WA Liberal state council, also set to include a push to abandon net zero endorsed by frontbencher Andrew Hastie. For her part, Ley, who says she wants the Coalition to better reflect the modern Australia it seeks to represent, was gracious in acknowledging symbolic and practical recognition of Indigenous Australians this week. She called for the ceremonial welcome by Indigenous leaders to 'set the tone' for MPs as they seek practical action to improve lives and expand opportunity for Indigenous people around the country. Liberal figures were downcast about the atmospherics of renewed culture war fights on the flag, Indigenous recognition and net zero, asking why MPs would waste valuable political capital to speak outside their portfolios. One called the antics 'a sideshow' and suggested more discipline was necessary to bring the fight to Labor. It might be only a few months on from the 3 May election, but Hanson and the outspoken members of the Coalition have failed to appreciate that Anthony Albanese won the centre by focusing on the issues that voters see as critical to making their lives better. Ley's predecessor, Peter Dutton, lost in part because voters were turned off by his attacks on Indigenous recognition and Trump-style division and obstruction. Even many who find statements of acknowledgment overdone at public events or in meetings at work don't want parliament turned into a sideshow of reactionary zeal. Both the Coalition and Labor's election reviews will show Dutton's campaign aggression and intolerance unsettled voters, including those who might otherwise have been open to voting for the Coalition. Mostyn said it best in her speech to the Senate. While acknowledging the challenges of the past and urging renewed action to close the Indigenous disadvantage gap, she called for all Australians to 'approach the path forward together with determination, humility and optimism'. It might be a long three years.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Moment pro-Palestine protesters block Israeli cruise ship passengers from disembarking on Greek island before vessel has to divert to Cyprus
An Israeli cruise ship was forced away from Greece after furious pro-Palestine protesters blocked it from docking. The Crown Iris, which was carrying around 1,700 Israeli nationals, including between 300 to 400 children, was prevented from disembarking at Ermoupoli, in the Greek island of Syros. It was instead diverted to the Port of Limassol in Cyprus, where it arrived on Wednesday. The cruise ship had been met with an anti-Israel demonstration of more than 150 protesters as it attempted to disembark for a six-hour visit on Tuesday. Protesters carried Palestinian flags, chanted and held banners reading 'Stop the Genocide' and 'No a/c in hell' as they formed a line to prevent the Israeli passengers from arriving in Greece. Some passengers responded by waving Israeli flags and singing patriotic songs. 'Inside the ship, we feel safe, but the children are a little stressed,' one passenger told Israeli broadcaster Kan. Initially Mano Maritime, who own the boat, said there would be a 'slight delay' in docking the ship, as they estimated the protest would disperse within half an hour. But as it continued the shipping company skipped Syros and rerouted to Limassol. The Greek coast guard confirmed the ship set sail at around 3pm on Tuesday, earlier than its original schedule. 'The ship arrived at Syros, encountered a demonstration by pro-Palestinian supporters, and passengers were stuck on board without permission to disembark,' Mano Maritime later said. They later added: 'The management of Mano Maritime has decided in light of the situation in the city of Syros to now sail to another tourist destination.' A group called We Stay Active organised the protest. In a social media post they wrote 'residents and visitors to the island state that soldiers, settlers, and supporters of the war and the occupation of Palestine are unwanted on their island.' Following the protest, they added: 'We note that there have been numerous complaints from all over Greece about the provocative behaviour of Israeli tourists, who support genocide and who behave as if our places belong to them. 'We do not want their money! We do not tolerate their presence! Bravo to the residents of Syros!' A further post, once the ship departed, said that 'residents remain on alert in case it tries to return'. 'Of course, those who oppose the war, the occupation, and the genocide are welcome,' it added. The protest was met with rage by Greece's Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis who said it was 'shameful for Greece'. 'We owe an apology to those friends of Greece who chose to spend their holidays here and were forcibly denied that right by some. 'This incident must neither harm our relations with [Israel] nor the love of Israeli tourists for Greece,' he said. Meanwhile, Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar spoke with Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis on Tuesday and 'requested intervention'. The same ship, the Crown Iris, was last month used to transport Israeli nationals to and from Cyprus after Israel closed its airspace during its 12-day conflict with Iran. It has also been used as part of the country's Operation Safe Return mission to repatriate citizens during conflict.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Family tribute to 'treasured' daughter, 18, who died in A40 crash
The family of an 18-year-old woman who died in a car crash have described her as "lighting up any room she entered with her smile and personality". Sally Allen, of Cresswell Quay, Kilgetty, Pembrokeshire, died on Wednesday morning after a collision on the A40 at Broadoak between Carmarthen and a statement, her family said they were both devastated and in shock, adding that Sally was "endlessly caring, unintentionally hilarious and the most amazing supportive and joyful person". "In only 18 years of her life, she touched the hearts of so many people within her community, her school, her work and social life," they said. "Sally was a much-loved sister to William and Issie, and a treasured daughter of Richard and Kate," they said, adding Sally was a beloved granddaughter and loved by all her aunties, uncles and cousins."She had a large number of friends and was very popular with everyone who knew her," they said. The family said Sally found happiness at her local young farmers club, as well as enjoying horse riding and her day-to-day life at home. "Since her death it has become apparent how much Sally was loved and cherished. Her sudden absence leaves an unfillable space in the lives so many people that knew and loved her."Police are continuing to appeal for witnesses to the collision, which involved a red Renault Clio and Blue Audi Q5.
