Dhaka crash: ‘A sound I’ve never heard – then the jet flew over my head’
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Bangladesh crash: At least 20 dead after air force jet crashes into school
At least 20 dead after air force jet crashes into Bangladesh school campus. More than 50 people taken to hospital with burns, many in critical condition. The F-7 jet experienced a mechanical fault after taking off for a training exercise. The pilot was among those killed, the air force said in a statement on its Facebook page. The age range for students attending the school is between four and 18 years old. the scene in the hours after the crash showed scores of emergency service workers sorting through charred rubble to try and find survivors, while being watched by huge crowds of onlookers who climbed on top of surrounding buildings to see.
Place crash witness: ‘I heard an explosion, saw fire and smoke’
More than 50 people were taken to hospital with burns, many in critical condition, a doctor at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery said.
The armed forces said in a statement on Facebook that the F-7 jet experienced a mechanical fault after taking off for a training exercise just after 13:00 local time (07:06 GMT) on Monday. The pilot was among those killed, the air force added.
Footage from Milestone School and College in the suburb of Uttara showed a huge fire and thick smoke, after the aircraft slammed into a two-storey building.
At least 20 people died and more than 170 were injured after a Bangladeshi air force training jet crashed into a school campus in the capital, Dhaka.
Many of the victims were students who had just been let out of school when the plane crashed. Seventeen of the casualties were children, the health ministry said.
The age range for students attending the school is between four and 18 years old.
A teacher at the college, Rezaul Islam, told BBC Bangla that he saw the plane “directly” hit the building.
Another teacher, Masud Tarik, told Reuters that he heard an explosion: “When I looked back, I only saw fire and smoke… There were many guardians and kids here.”
A year 10 student said he had just left the building after finishing an exam when he saw the plane hit the building “right in front of my eyes”. His best friend died in front of him, he said.
The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Md. Taukir Islam, had tried to navigate the jet to a less populated area after the mechanical fault occurred, the armed forces statement said. He had only just taken off from an air force base in the capital.
An investigation committee has been formed to look into the incident, the statement added.
Images from the scene in the hours after the crash showed scores of emergency service workers sorting through charred rubble to try and find survivors, while being watched by huge crowds of onlookers who climbed on top of surrounding buildings to see.
Victims have been treated at seven hospitals across the city, the health ministry said.
At Uttara Adhunik Medical College Hospital, an on-duty doctor said most of the injured were aged between 10 and 15 years old, many suffering from jet fuel burns.
Massive crowds thronged Dhaka’s National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, among them families desperate for information about relatives and volunteers who had come to donate blood.
One man’s eight-year-old nephew was among the students who died in the crash. “My beloved nephew is in the morgue right now,” he said, his hand resting on the arm of his younger brother, the boy’s father, who kept repeating: “Where is my son?”
Dhaka crash: ‘A sound I’ve never heard
‘I’ve never heard a sound like that – then the jet flew over my head’ At least 31 people were killed – many of them schoolchildren under 12. The Bangladesh Air Force F-7 plane had plummeted from the sky and slammed into the primary school building in Dhaka. The air force said the jet, on a training flight, experienced a mechanical fault shortly after takeoff. The pilot, who ejected just before the crash, later died in hospital. The five-building campus, usually buzzing with student chatter, had turned into a scene of fire, splintered metal, and screaming. At one point, the shirt off one student was pulled off his back – literally. But the weight of the young lives lost at the school is something he says he will be hard to overcome, as he will never be able to see his friends and family again. He says: “It was so hot, but I threw the bag aside and ran to help. I took my uniform and gave it to him with the bare-bodied.”
3 hours ago Share Save Soutik Biswas BBC News, London Share Save
JUBAIR BIN IQBAL/AFP/Getty Images The plane crashed into a two-storey primary school building in a sprawling campus
“It was like 30 or 40 thunderbolts falling from the sky,” said Ahnaf Bin Hasan, an 18-year-old student whose voice still trembled two days after the crash. “I’ve never heard a sound like that in my life – it came from the sky. In a split second, the fighter jet flew over my head and crashed into the school building.” The Bangladesh Air Force F-7 plane had plummeted from the sky and slammed into the primary school building of the Milestone School and College in Dhaka on Monday, marking Bangladesh’s deadliest aviation disaster in decades. At least 31 people were killed – many of them schoolchildren under 12 – while waiting to be picked up, heading to coaching classes, or grabbing a quick snack. Clad in his chocolate brown shirt and black trousers, school badge pinned neatly, Ahnaf was chatting with a friend under a canopy on the playground of the sprawling 12-acre campus of Milestone School and College, in the busy Uttara neighbourhood. He says he was barely 30 feet away when the jet nosedived into the building. Ahnaf instinctively dropped to the ground, bracing his head with his hands. When he opened his eyes, the world around him had changed. “All I could see was smoke, fire, and darkness. Children were screaming. Everything was chaos,” he told the BBC on the phone.
Ahnaf Ahnaf says the screams are still in his ears
The air force said the jet, on a training flight, experienced a mechanical fault shortly after takeoff. The pilot, who ejected just before the crash, later died in hospital. “I saw the pilot eject,” Ahnaf said. “After the crash, I looked up and saw his white parachute descending. He broke through the tin roof of another building. I heard he was alive after landing, even asked for water. A helicopter came and took him away.” As smoke and flames spread through the school, Ahnaf’s instincts kicked in. A flaming splinter from the burning plane had struck his backpack, singed his trousers and scorched his hand. “It was so hot, but I threw the bag aside and ran to help.” He ran toward the concrete walkway separating the playground from the two-storey primary school building. The plane had slammed into the gate, burrowed six to seven feet into the ground, then tilted upward, crashed into the first floor, and exploded. Two classrooms named Cloud and Sky had become the ground zero of the crash.
Syed Mahamudur Rahman/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Near the entrance, Ahnaf saw a student’s body, torn apart. “It looked like the plane had hit him before slamming into the building,” he said. “He was younger than us.” The five-building campus, usually buzzing with student chatter, had turned into a scene of fire, splintered metal, and screaming. Amid the smoke, Ahnaf spotted a junior student whose skin was scorched and whose body had been pulled out of the blaze by a friend. “His friend told me, ‘I can’t do this alone. Can you help me?’ So I picked the boy up, put him on my shoulder, and carried him to the medical room.” Another woman was on fire. Children ran from the building stripped to their underclothes, their garments burned off, their skin blistering in the intense heat. “On the second floor, students were stranded and screaming,” Ahnaf said. “We broke open a grille to reach one of the gates, which was on fire. The army and fire service came in and rescued some of them.” Ahnaf, like many others, quickly took on roles far beyond his age. “We helped control the crowds, kept people away from the fire. We cleared the roads for ambulances and helped fire service crews pull their pipes through the campus.” At one point, he gave the shirt off his back – literally. “One student had nothing on him. I took off my uniform and gave it to him. I continued bare-bodied with the rescue.” But the weight of so many young lives lost at the school is something he says will be hard to overcome.
Wakia Firdous Nidhi, 11, was one of the several students who died in the crash
One of them was 11-year-old Wakia Firdous Nidhi. She had walked to school that morning like any other day. When the plane hit, her father was at prayer – he ran barefoot from the mosque as soon as he heard. Her uncle, Syed Billal Hossain, told me that the family spent the entire night searching more than half a dozen hospitals. “We walked across Uttara, helpless. Someone said six bodies were at one hospital. At one in the morning on Tuesday, her father identified her – by her teeth and a problem in her eye. But we still haven’t been given the body.” The pain of losing a child was only compounded by the bureaucratic maze. Despite identifying their daughter by a dental feature and a lens in her eye, the family was told the body wouldn’t be released without DNA tests – because there were multiple claimants. First, a police report had to be filed. Then the father gave blood at the military hospital. Now they were waiting for the mother’s sample to be drawn. “We know it’s her,” said Mr Hossain. “But they still won’t hand over the body.” Wakia, the youngest of three siblings, lived next door to her uncle in an old ancestral home in Diabari. “She grew up in front of our eyes – playing on rooftops, sitting under the coconut tree next to our house, always cradling her baby niece. She was just a child, and she loved children,” said Mr Hossain. “I saw her just the day before,” he said. “If not for that after-school coaching, she’d be alive.” In the chaos and heartbreak that followed the crash, moments of narrow escape and immense courage stood out. One mother told BBC Bengali how she’d given her child money for tiffin instead of packing lunch that morning. During the break, he stepped out to buy food – and unknowingly avoided death by mere chance. “He is alive because I didn’t give him tiffin,” she said. Another parent’s tragedy was unimaginable. He lost both his children within hours. His daughter died first. After burying her, he returned to the hospital only to wake from a brief nap and be told his young son, too, had died.
NurPhoto via Getty Images Fighter jets and planes frequently fly over the campus near Dhaka airport
And then there was Mahreen Chowdhury. The teacher, responsible for children in Classes 3 to 5, helped at least 20 students flee the inferno. Refusing to leave, she kept going back into the flames – until her body was burned over 80%. Chowdhury died a hero, saving the lives of those too young to save themselves. For staff at the school, it’s like living in a nightmare. “I can’t function normally anymore. Every time I look at the building, a wave of grief crashes over me. I feel lost, unwell and depressed. I’ve lost three children I knew – one of them was my colleague’s,” said Shafiqul Islam Tultul, a 43-year-old Bengali teacher. In the aftermath, questions and confusion have swirled around the scale of the tragedy.
Terrified students leap from windows to save themselves after Air India flight crashes into medical hostel
Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, carrying 242 people, crashed in Ahmedabad. Air India flight crashed into state-run BJ Medical College five-storey hostel. So far more than 290 people have reportedly been killed – both passengers on the plane and victims on the ground. Five medical students were killed, while almost 40 were injured, including one student described as being in a critical condition in hospital. Up to 200 people were in the campus on lunch when the aircraft came down, a postgraduate student claimed. Eyewitness said people jumped from as high as the third floor to “save themselves”, said one unnamed resident. The aircraft exploded into a fireball that could be seen for miles around – as students inside the concrete building tried desperately to escape the devastation. Video footage shows the flight taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport before appearing to lose power and coming down on a residential area called Meghani Nagar at 1.40pm local time. It’s still unclear how many people were inside the hostel, which is near the city’s Civil Hospital.
Shocking video footage shows the Gatwick-bound Air India flight 171 taking off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport before appearing to lose power and coming down on a residential area called Meghani Nagar at 1.40pm local time. So far more than 290 people have reportedly been killed – both passengers on the plane and victims on the ground.
On hitting the state-run BJ Medical College five-storey hostel, the aircraft exploded into a fireball that could be seen for miles around – as students inside the concrete building tried desperately to escape the devastation.
In a canteen on the campus, medical students were on a lunch break when the aircraft landed on the now-destroyed building.
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Plates of uneaten food lay scattered in a hostel dining hall in Ahmedabad after Air India flight AI-171 crashed into the building Thursday afternoon (EyePress News/Shutterstock)
The plane’s tail could be seen protruding from the damaged building after the crash (AP)
A mother called Rami told Indian network ANI that her son suffered injuries while jumping from the second floor.
“My son had gone to the hostel during lunch break, and the plane crashed there,” she said. “My son is safe, and I have spoken to him. He jumped from the second floor, so he suffered some injuries.”
Another eyewitness said people jumped from as high as the third floor to “save themselves”, said one unnamed resident.
They told AFP: “Our office is near the building where the plane crashed. We saw people from the building jumping from the second and third floor to save themselves. The plane was in flames.”
Ayush, a resident doctor at Ahmedabad’s Civil Hospital, located close to the hostel, told the Hindustan Times that the crash sparked chaos. “Our friends and juniors have been seriously injured and are being treated now.”
Up to 200 people were in the campus on lunch when the aircraft came down, a postgraduate student claimed.
Fires broke out around the medical hostel after the crash, with emergency teams arriving to put out the flames (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Rescue workers use a stretcher as victims are removed from the site of the plane crash (AP)
Local officers said five medical students were killed, while almost 40 were injured, including one student described as being in a critical condition in hospital.
Images of the aftermath, shared on social media, revealed the plane’s tail protruding from the damaged building, while chunks of the fuselage and wheels were visible within the wreckage inside.
In the canteen, plates of uneaten food were pictured lying scattered across the dining room. It’s still unclear how many people were inside the hostel, which is near the city’s Civil Hospital.
Outside the hostel, located in a residential area with some offices, flames burnt trees as emergency rescue teams rushed to the scene in a desperate bid to find survivors and clear the area.
“I was sitting at home, there was a loud noise, it felt like an earthquake,” said one man speaking to media from the scene.
He added: “I came out and saw smoke, I didn’t realise it was a plane crash, then I came here and I found out and I saw the crashed plane – there were many bodies lying on the ground.”
Debris on the ground around the medical hostel after the crash (EPA)
Wreckage from the plane lies on the floor next to the hostel building (Reuters)
Another resident, Poonam Patni, said her sister-in-law was on the flight, and so she attended the crash scene. She told AFP: “When we reached the spot there were several bodies lying around and firefighters were dousing the flames. Many of the bodies were burned.”
An eyewitness, Haresh Shash, told PTI: “The plane was flying very low before it crashed. As it crashed into the building, the sound was like a blast, and the plane and the building caught fire.”
At least one person survived the crash, police have said.
Ramesh Viswashkumar was found by police in seat 11A, according to Indian news agency ANI. His family have said he is a British national from London who was in India visiting family.
He told the Hindustan Times: “When I got up, there were bodies all around me. I was scared. I stood up and ran. There were pieces of the plane all around me. Someone grabbed hold of me and put me in an ambulance and brought me to the hospital.”
The plane hit the BJ Medical College hostel at 1.40pm (AP)
Air India’s Flight 171, which was due into London at 6.25pm, had onboard 169 Indian nationals, 53 British, seven Portuguese, and a Canadian. Eleven of those on board were children. Two pilots and 10 cabin crew were also aboard.
Located in western India, Ahmedabad, the main city in the Gujarat state, has a population of eight million people.
Local police said at least 290 bodies had been recovered from the crash site, but the total death count remains unclear as rescuers work through the charred wreckage. Those killed include both passengers and people on the ground, city police chief G.S. Malik told Reuters.
Hundreds gathered to view the wreckage after the crash (Reuters)
As hundreds gathered to view the crash site, the army, Border Security Force, State Reserve Police Force and city police quickly sealed off the area while rescue workers retrieving bodies and looked for survivors.
Firefighters tackled the flames while bodies were carried away on stretchers to be placed in ambulances.
Indian doctors’ association, FAIMA, posted on X: “We are deeply shocked about the news… news have become more gruesome after finding out that flight had crushed in BJMC, Hostel & many MBBS (medical and bachelor of surgery) students have also been injured.”
A spokesperson for India’s external affairs ministry said: “What has happened in Ahmedabad is a very tragic accident. We have lost a lot of people. We extend our deepest condolences to all those who have lost their loved ones.”