At Least 20 Dead as Military Jet Crashes Into School in Bangladesh
In a devastating turn of events, at least 20 people lost their lives and more than 170 were injured when a Bangladeshi air force training jet crashed into Milestone School and College in Dhaka’s Uttara suburb.
Among the dead were 17 children, students who had just been let out of school, many still carrying the weight of exams and backpacks.
Footage from the scene showed black smoke billowing over a two-storey school building engulfed in flames. Eyewitnesses described a terrifying explosion, a flash of fire, and chaos as students, teachers, and parents scattered in panic.
“There were many guardians and children here,” said one teacher. A Year 10 student, moments after finishing his exam, watched helplessly as the plane slammed into the building, killing his best friend before his eyes.
The aircraft, an F-7 fighter jet, had taken off for a training exercise around 1 PM on Monday when it reportedly developed a mechanical fault.
According to the armed forces, the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Md. Taukir Islam, attempted to steer the jet away from the populated area, but the effort ended in catastrophe. He, too, perished in the crash.
As a result, more than 50 individuals were hospitalized with critical burn injuries, many of them children aged between 10 and 15.
Emergency responders searched through the charred rubble, as families crowded hospitals and morgues, desperate for news. One man stood beside his grieving brother, the father of an 8-year-old boy killed in the crash, repeating a single haunting question: “Where is my son?”
Beyond the immediate tragedy, this incident represents a profound breach of the child’s right to life. This right obligates the state to protect every child’s life and to ensure their survival and development.
These children were not in a warzone or conflict zone rather at school. Their lives should never have been placed at such risk by flying a training jet over densely populated civilian areas.
