Country Declares National Mourning as Horror Unfolds in the Heart of the Capital
Dhaka: In one of the darkest days in Bangladesh’s aviation history, a Bangladesh Air Force fighter jet plummeted into a school campus in northern Dhaka on Monday, killing at least 19 people including the pilot and injuring over a hundred, many of them schoolchildren.
The Chinese-made F-7 BGI, a training aircraft used by the Bangladesh Air Force, crashed into the grounds of Milestone School and College in the Uttara-Diabari neighborhood shortly after noon. The school, a bustling educational hub with more than 2,000 students, was in session some children were writing exams, others attending regular classes when death rained from the skies.
Eyewitness accounts described chaos and disbelief as the jet screeched into the campus, unleashing a fireball and sending debris flying. “It sounded like the sky exploded,” said a stunned resident. Flames engulfed classrooms, and parts of the aircraft were scattered across the premises.
Within hours, the death toll rose to 19, with more than 100 injured, several in critical condition. Most victims were students, according to emergency personnel and hospital records. The National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute, military hospitals, and nearby clinics were flooded with the wounded some carried on rickshaws, others in bare arms, as panicked parents and locals turned rescuers.
Among the dead was the pilot, whose identity has not yet been released. Authorities have withheld the names of the other deceased until families are notified.
Rafiqa Taha, a student of the school who was not on campus at the time, said through tears: “It’s my school… my friends… I can’t believe this is real. I saw it on TV, and my heart just sank.”
In the wake of the disaster, Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus declared a national day of mourning and ordered special prayers across the country. “This is a moment of profound pain for the nation,” he wrote on social media. “I pray for the souls of the departed and a swift recovery for the injured. All hospitals and rescue agencies have been instructed to give this top priority.”
Emergency services, the military, and fire brigade personnel have cordoned off the area and launched recovery and identification operations. Blackened ruins and smoldering school walls now stand as grim reminders of the tragedy.
The Air Force confirmed the jet belonged to its training division, but gave no reason for the crash. Aviation experts have raised concerns about the aging F-7 fleet and called for an urgent review. A high-level investigation committee has been formed to determine the cause of the crash.
As Bangladesh reels from the tragedy, prayers echo in mosques and homes across the nation. The wreckage may be cleared in days, but the emotional scars in Dhaka’s children and families may last a lifetime.
This is not just a plane crash. This is a national wound cut deep in a classroom where futures were being written, now erased by a plume of fire.