25 children among 27 killed in Bangladesh Air Force jet crash
Around 88 other people were being treated in hospital.
The F-7 BGI aircraft crashed soon after it took off at 1.06pm on Monday from the airbase in Kurmitola, here, on a routine training mission.
The military said the plane experienced a mechanical failure.
Visuals showed rescue workers scouring the charred buildings for debris as distressed family members surrounded the site.
Sayedur Rahman, special assistant to the chief adviser on health, said a teacher and the jet pilot were also among the dead.
The government announced a day of mourning, with flags at half-mast and special prayers at all places of worship.
The jet is the most advanced variant in China's Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, according to Jane's Information Group.
Bangladesh signed a contract for 16 aircraft in 2011, and deliveries were completed by 2013.
The incident comes as neighbour India is still grappling with the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad last month, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground. — REUTERS
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
12 hours ago
- The Star
Teacher dies saving students from inferno in Bangladesh jet crash
DHAKA (Reuters) -When a Bangladesh Air Force fighter jet crashed into her school and erupted in a fireball on Monday, Maherin Chowdhury rushed to save some of the hundreds of students and teachers facing mortal danger, placing their safety before her own. The 46-year-old English teacher went back again and again into a burning classroom to rescue her students, even as her own clothes were engulfed in flames, her brother, Munaf Mojib Chowdhury, told Reuters by telephone. Maherin died on Monday after suffering near total burns on her body. She is survived by her husband and two teenaged sons. "When her husband called her, pleading with her to leave the scene and think of her children, she refused, saying 'they are also my children, they are burning. How can I leave them?'" Chowdhury said. At least 29 people, most of them children, were killed when the F-7 BGI crashed into the school, trapping them in fire and debris. The military said the aircraft had suffered mechanical failure. "I don't know exactly how many she saved, but it may have been at least 20. She pulled them out with her own hands," he said, adding that he found out about his sister's act of bravery when he visited the hospital and met students she had rescued. The jet had taken off from a nearby air base on a routine training mission, the military said. After experiencing mechanical failure the pilot tried to divert the aircraft away from populated areas, but it crashed into the campus. The pilot was among those killed. "When the plane crashed and fire broke out, everyone was running to save their lives, she ran to save others," Khadija Akter, the headmistress of the school's primary section, told Reuters on phone about Maherin. She was buried on Tuesday in her home district of Nilphamari, in northern Bangladesh. (Reporting by Ruma Paul in Dhaka, Writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar, Editing by William Maclean)
New Straits Times
a day ago
- New Straits Times
25 children among 27 killed in Bangladesh Air Force jet crash
DHAKA: At least 25 children were among the 27 dead pulled from scorched buildings after a Bangladesh Air Force jet on a training mission crashed into a college and school campus here, officials said yesterday. Around 88 other people were being treated in hospital. The F-7 BGI aircraft crashed soon after it took off at 1.06pm on Monday from the airbase in Kurmitola, here, on a routine training mission. The military said the plane experienced a mechanical failure. Visuals showed rescue workers scouring the charred buildings for debris as distressed family members surrounded the site. Sayedur Rahman, special assistant to the chief adviser on health, said a teacher and the jet pilot were also among the dead. The government announced a day of mourning, with flags at half-mast and special prayers at all places of worship. The jet is the most advanced variant in China's Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, according to Jane's Information Group. Bangladesh signed a contract for 16 aircraft in 2011, and deliveries were completed by 2013. The incident comes as neighbour India is still grappling with the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad last month, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground. — REUTERS
New Straits Times
a day ago
- New Straits Times
Air India jet grounded after power generator catches fire in Delhi
NEW DELHI: Air India said on Tuesday it has grounded a passenger jet for checks after a power generator caught fire shortly after landing at India's capital city, New Delhi. The aircraft's auxillary power unit (APU) caught fire when its passengers were getting off the aircraft, and was automatically shut down, a spokesperson for the airline said in a statement. APU is an electrical power generator typically located at the rear of an aircraft. Its primary function is to start the main engines and power essential onboard systems while the airplane is parked at the airport. Passengers "disembarked normally" and are safe but the aircraft, which was flying from Hong Kong, suffered some damage, the airline said. It did not elaborate on the damages caused to the plane. The impacted flight is an Airbus A321, data from flightradar24 showed. Air India said it has notified the regulator of the incident. India's aviation regulator was not immediately available for comment. Air India has come under heightened scrutiny in the aftermath of one of its planes crashing fatally in the western Ahmedabad city in June, which killed 260 people.
