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18 July 2025
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At least 27 killed in Bangladesh fighter jet crash
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At least 27 people have been killed after a Bangladesh Air Force training jet crashed into a college and school campus in Dhaka on Monday, 21 July 2025, officials said, with 170 people, including children, being treated in hospital. The aircraft crashed soon after it took off from an airbase in the capital on a routine training mission. The military said the F-7 BGI jet experienced a mechanical failure. Most of the victims were schoolchildren who had just been let out of class when the Chinese-made F-7 BJI aircraft slammed into the Milestone School and College. The pilot tried to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas but, "despite his best efforts", crashed into the two-storey school building, the military added.
The crash, which is the country’s deadliest aviation accident in decades, also left more than 170 people injured. The government announced a day of mourning, with flags at half-mast and special prayers at all places of worship.
The pilot was among those killed in the incident, the military said, adding a committee had been formed to investigate what happened.
The jet, an F-7 BGI, is the final and 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 crash comes weeks after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad in neighbouring India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
Videos of the aftermath of the crash showed a big fire near a lawn emitting a thick plume of smoke into the sky as crowds watched from a distance.
Firefighters sprayed water on the mangled remains of the plane, which appeared to have rammed into the side of a building, damaging iron grills and creating a gaping hole in the structure, footage filmed by Reuters showed.
Bidhan Sarker, head of the burn unit at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, said: "A third-grade student was brought in dead, and three others, aged 12, 14 and 40, were admitted to the hospital."
Images from the scene also showed people screaming and crying as others tried to comfort them. "When I was picking [up] my kids and went to the gate, I realised something came from behind ... I heard an explosion. When I looked back, I only saw fire and smoke," said Masud Tarik, a teacher at the school.
Source: SBS News, Al Jazeera
The crash, which is the country’s deadliest aviation accident in decades, also left more than 170 people injured. The government announced a day of mourning, with flags at half-mast and special prayers at all places of worship.
The pilot was among those killed in the incident, the military said, adding a committee had been formed to investigate what happened.
The jet, an F-7 BGI, is the final and 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 crash comes weeks after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad in neighbouring India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
Videos of the aftermath of the crash showed a big fire near a lawn emitting a thick plume of smoke into the sky as crowds watched from a distance.
Firefighters sprayed water on the mangled remains of the plane, which appeared to have rammed into the side of a building, damaging iron grills and creating a gaping hole in the structure, footage filmed by Reuters showed.
Bidhan Sarker, head of the burn unit at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, said: "A third-grade student was brought in dead, and three others, aged 12, 14 and 40, were admitted to the hospital."
Images from the scene also showed people screaming and crying as others tried to comfort them. "When I was picking [up] my kids and went to the gate, I realised something came from behind ... I heard an explosion. When I looked back, I only saw fire and smoke," said Masud Tarik, a teacher at the school.
Source: SBS News, Al Jazeera
