Death toll rises to 16 after Bangladesh Air Force jet crashes into Dhaka school

A Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft has crashed in to a school campus in northern Dhaka – killing at least 16 people, including its pilot, and injuring dozens, officials said.

According to the military and a fire official, the Bangladesh Air Force F-7 BGI aircraft crashed in to the campus of Milestone School and College, in Dhaka’s Uttara neighbourhood, on Monday afternoon, where students were taking tests or attending regular classes.

Saidur Rahman, a National Burn Institute official in Dhaka, told Bangladesh’s leading English daily, The Daily Star, that the death toll rose to 16 within hours.

Bengali-language Prothom Alo daily said most of the injured were students with burn injuries, with at least 20 people taken to a hospital.

Parents and relatives attended the scene as rescuers, using rickshaws or whatever was available, transported the injured.

Rafiqa Taha, a student at the school who was not present at the time of the crash, told The Associated Press by phone that Milestone School and College, with some 2,000 students, runs classes from elementary to 12th grade.

On Monday, she said, some students were taking tests while others attended regular classes.

“I was terrified watching videos on TV,” said the 16-year-old student. “My God. It’s my school.”

The Bangladesh Army’s public relations office confirmed in a brief statement that the downed F-7 BGI aircraft belonged to the Air Force.