B’desh school jet crash toll rises to 31

Dhaka: Thousands of students on Tuesday protested demanding “accurate” information on casualties and compensation for the families of those killed when a Bangladesh Air Force training jet crashed into a school, as the death toll in the incident rose to 31, including 25 children.

The F-7 BGI aircraft, a training fighter jet manufactured in China, experienced a “mechanical fault” moments after takeoff and crashed into a two-storey building of Milestone School and College in Dhaka’s Uttara area on Monday, according to officials.

The death toll from the crash rose to 31, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) - the media wing of the military. The Chief Adviser’s special adviser, Saidur Rahman, told reporters that 25 deceased were children and many of them under the age of 12, who succumbed to extensive burn injuries. The pilot and one teacher were among the dead.

Sharing the details, the ISPR said that 16 people died at the Combined Military Hospital, 10 at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, two at Lubana General Hospital, and one each at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Uttara Adhunik Medical College Hospital, and United Hospital.

It added that 165 of the injured are undergoing treatment at 10 hospitals in Dhaka. Authorities fear the toll could further rise as conditions of some of the injured were critical.

Hundreds of students of Milestone School and College, as well as from nearby schools, protested, demanding the “accurate” disclosure of the information about those killed, compensation for victims’ families and the immediate discontinuation of outdated and unsafe training aircraft used by Bangladesh Air Force.