logo
Bangladesh mourns 31 dead in jet crash as students protest to demand accountability

Bangladesh mourns 31 dead in jet crash as students protest to demand accountability

Independent3 days ago
Hundreds of students protested near the site of the crash of a Bangladesh air force training jet into a school in the nation's capital, demanding accountability, compensation for victims' families and the halt of training flights.
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publication of identities of the dead and injured, compensation for the families, and an immediate halt to the use of 'outdated and unsafe' training aircraft by the Bangladesh air force.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.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

How social media is helping the far-right spread fear and hate
How social media is helping the far-right spread fear and hate

The Independent

time12 hours ago

  • The Independent

How social media is helping the far-right spread fear and hate

At around 5.30pm on 7 July, Essex Police officers were called to the High Street in Epping after receiving reports that a man was behaving inappropriately towards a teenage girl. Hadush Kebatu, 38, an asylum seeker from Ethiopia, allegedly tried to kiss a schoolgirl as she ate pizza and he has since been charged with three counts of sexual assault. But news that he had only arrived in the UK eight days earlier via a small boat quickly took hold on social media, sparking a series of protests that turned violent and thrusting the historic Essex town into the heart of an anti-immigration row. What started as a group of locals voicing their grievances outside the Bell Hotel, which is believed to house asylum seekers, has now escalated into what has been described as a 'powder keg situation', with fears it could prompt a wave of riots across the country, similar to those seen last summer. In the past two weeks, prominent leaders in neo-Nazi groups and far-right organisations have been accused of exploiting the situation by pivoting demonstrations towards violence, with some demanding a 'national call for action'. Their weapon of choice? Social media, which the far-right have long been known to harness as a tool to spread fear and hate. Several right-wing activists have rebranded themselves as citizen journalists or political commentators, helping them accrue millions of followers in the UK and across the globe. Joe Mulhall, of the charity Hope Not Hate, said that is dangerous at a time when misinformation online spreads quickly and can whip up tensions. 'It's deeply concerning that a rumour or allegation can spread so quickly and take hold. Last year in Southport, misinformation from influencers like Andrew Tate spread like wildfire about the ethnicity and nationality of the perpetrator of the awful murders. 'When misinformation spreads, it can legitimise existing biases and as a rumour or allegation takes hold, things can quickly move offline.' Among those who have set up the private Facebook page Epping Says No, which advertises the protests, are three members of the group Homeland. Founded in 2023 after splitting from neo-Nazi group Patriotic Alternative, it has been described as the largest fascist group in the UK. This week, one of its prominent members has shared several videos of the protests on social media, and has called for future action, urging: 'If you live in an area that has a hotel occupied by asylum seekers, start organising.' Members of other groups, including former neo-Nazi terror group Combat 18, the British National Party and the Patriots of Britain, have also been spotted at the demonstrations. Mr Mullhall warned that with over-worked and over-stretched police forces, racist and anti-immigration rhetoric online can often fall under the radar. He said the UK 'needs to be ahead of the curve' to clamp down on this activity. 'Tracking these comments and the individuals responsible is tricky,' he said. 'The far-right are no longer divided into neat groupings but are instead thousands of people posting videos outside migrant accommodation, posting rumours and making comments online. 'Gone are the days when the police or social media companies can simply deplatform a particular group to resolve this issue.' Since Elon Musk 's takeover of X, formerly known as Twitter, the platform has changed significantly, with the Tesla founder reportedly tweaking its algorithms and removing its fact-checking mechanisms. This included turning the platform into a pro-Maga Trump echo chamber in the run-up to last year's US presidential elections, and reinstating previously banned figures such as Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkinson. For Hope Not Hate, it has become a visible and concerning trend to see US figures commenting on UK politics and societal issues, boosting far-right voices, such as those of anti-Islam activist Robinson, who has hinted he will be in attendance at an Epping protest on Sunday. Mr Mullhall said: "The far right has changed dramatically and ironically, knows no borders. What we're seeing now is key figures emerging online. We're no longer looking at organisations but key people who emerge during a time of crisis. 'The far right is international, they move around and they move in pacts and trying to find any weakness. They have no formal leader; there's no single leader, it's like they're a group of fish that move around the internet exploiting situations. 'It is no surprise that we've seen a rise in far-right activity in the UK, US and Europe – these groups and ideas are interconnected.' Dr Karen Middleton, from the University of Portsmouth, who has been an expert witness in the UK government's inquiry into social media, misinformation, and harmful algorithms, said the recent protests in Epping were 'in many ways, a continuation of the riots from last year'. She said: 'Sensationalist and polarising content gathers more clicks, gathers more engagement, so there is a systemic incentive for spreading misinformation online.' She urged large social media platforms to go much further in addressing the spread of misinformation, but warned this was not about limiting free speech. 'This is about taking responsibility for published information that is online that goes to a large number of people, and is very often spread by people with high profiles,' she said. A spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs Council (NPSCC) said communities had a part to play in halting the spread of misinformation and urged people to 'carefully consider' what they read, share, and trust online to avoid stoking tensions. 'We would encourage the public to access formal authorities for accurate information. The spread of disinformation and misinformation by individuals or groups can significantly contribute to community tensions and has real-world implications. We all have a responsibility in this respect, and relevant criminal law applies to online actions,' they added. They also called on social media companies to be vigilant to the spread of false information and to 'ensure harmful content is detected, challenged and removed in a timely manner'.

RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: The Epping migrant fiasco has revealed a troubling truth about our country. I have warned about this for years... now it can no longer be denied
RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: The Epping migrant fiasco has revealed a troubling truth about our country. I have warned about this for years... now it can no longer be denied

Daily Mail​

time12 hours ago

  • Daily Mail​

RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: The Epping migrant fiasco has revealed a troubling truth about our country. I have warned about this for years... now it can no longer be denied

Watching Essex Police escorting Far Left troublemakers to a confrontation with local residents protesting against a hotel in Epping being converted into an asylum hostel for single men should surprise nobody. These days it's par for the course. More than 20 years ago I dubbed the police 'the paramilitary wing of New Labour'.

Epping braces for more unrest as protesters gather near migrant hotel and prepare to march to council building ahead of urgent meeting about disorder rocking Essex town
Epping braces for more unrest as protesters gather near migrant hotel and prepare to march to council building ahead of urgent meeting about disorder rocking Essex town

Daily Mail​

time12 hours ago

  • Daily Mail​

Epping braces for more unrest as protesters gather near migrant hotel and prepare to march to council building ahead of urgent meeting about disorder rocking Essex town

An Essex town is bracing itself for further unrest after protesters prepared to march from a controversial migrant hotel to the local council building. The Bell Hotel in Epping has become the focus of anger against asylum seekers after a man staying there was charged with sexually assaulting two teenage girls just days after arriving in Britain. News spread quickly on social media and Epping has endured several protests in the last fortnight, with one ending in violence as rioters jumped up on down on the roof of a police van and thugs smashed their windows. This afternoon, metal fencing was delivered to the hotel on the back of a flatbed truck, in a seeming drive to beef up the building's defences. Police in riot gear were spotted forming a barrier around the hotel in Epping, lining both sides of the road, with a canine team also present. Since the disorder began earlier this month, protests have spread to other parts of the country, with more than 150 gathering outside The Park Hotel, in Diss, Norfolk on Monday after the Home Office announced plans to change it from housing asylum-seeker families to single men. Lindsey, 58, said: 'I've been in Epping for 17 years and my daughter goes to the school behind here (the hotel) and also the same school where the poor girl was attacked. 'We have been uncomfortable. There are 140 men who are there. This is a small town, people talk and hear stuff all the time. In big cities those things can get flushed away and airbrushed out but here we hear more. Metal fencing was delivered to the migrant hotel in Epping this morning as it tries to bolster defences 'And we are terrified. Ive been here everyday and we are just mums in sundresses, facing up against police in masks and weapons. 'At this point the hotel needs to be closed. And the people sent somewhere where they are not free to roam around before they can be vetted. 'People think this is only about racism but it has nothing to do with race. You can be whatever colour, they could be Scottish people in there but until we know who is in our town they are not welcome. They must be vetted.' Ethiopian aslyum seeker Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with a number of sexual offences. He was arrested by officers on July 8 after reports of a man acting inappropriately towards a number of people. Kebatu appeared at Colchester Magistrates' Court on Thursday 10 July and denied all offences. On July 17 Kebatu was charged with three counts of sexual assault, as well as one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and one count of harassment without violence. Police have issued a dispersal order in Epping following the demonstrations outside The Bell hotel this month. The order, which is in place from 2pm today until 8am tomorrow, covers an area including the town centre and transport hubs such as the Underground station.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store