Military Plane Crashes Into School Campus in Bangladesh, Leaving at Least 19 People Dead

When a loud crash ripped through the walls of Milestone School and College, leaving behind smoke, sadness, and quiet, the sound of laughing and lessons was abruptly broken.

On Monday, July 21, 2025, a Bangladesh Air Force training jet crashed into a school building in Dhaka, killing at least 19 people and injuring over 70 more.

The incident sparked a nationwide emergency response and period of grief.

While lessons were in session, the crash happened.

The Milestone School and College building in the Uttara neighborhood of the city was struck by the F-7 BGI aircraft, which was manufactured in China.

Military officials said the jet had only been in the air for a few minutes when it lost control and crashed into the three-story building.

“The F-7 BGI training aircraft of the Bangladesh Air Force crashed in Uttara,” the military’s public relations department reportedly stated in a statement, according to India Today.

The plane departed at 13:06 (07:06 GMT).

According to reports, a fire officer first told the Press Trust of India on X that the incident had claimed the life of at least one person, with further information to follow.

Rescue efforts were started by college employees prior to the arrival of emergency personnel.

When there were no ambulances available, rescue crews from the army, fire department, and locals hurried in, many of them carrying injured youngsters in their arms to waiting cars or rickshaw vans.

There was a big crater and twisted metal wreckage where the jet seems to have crashed into the front of the building.

“I was scared watching videos on TV,” 16-year-old student Rafiqa Taha, who was not there, reportedly told the Associated Press over the phone.

God! It’s my school.

From elementary school to twelfth grade, Milestone School and College educates over 2,000 pupils.

As terrified students, some of whom were bleeding and others of whom had been burned, left the scene, heavy black smoke was also seen rising from the building on an eyewitness video.

This is the second time an F-7 fighter jet built in China has crashed in the area this year.

The pilot was killed in June when a similar aircraft flown by the Myanmar Air Force crashed.

According to Reuters, Lieutenant Colonel Sami Ud Dowla Chowdhury, a military spokesperson, said that the aircraft allegedly experienced a mechanical malfunction shortly after takeoff.

“The pilot… made a heroic effort to steer the plane clear of crowded areas.

The plane… struck a two-story structure owned by Milestone School and College in spite of his best attempts,” Chowdhury allegedly continued.

A military investigative committee has been established to ascertain the reason for the technical breakdown, and the pilot was one of the people killed.

Additionally, “A third-grade student was brought in dead, and three others, aged 12, 14, and 40, were admitted to the hospital [sic],” stated Bidhan Sarker, chief of the burn unit at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital.

According to the Chief Advisor’s Special Assistant Professor for Health, Dr. Md. Sayedur Rahman, 48 of the injured are still in critical condition, while other patients are being treated at different hospitals, such as the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery.

Masud Tarik, a teacher, recounted, “I noticed something coming from behind when I was collecting up my children and heading to the gate.

An explosion sounded to me.

All I could see when I turned around was smoke and fire.”

Rezaul Islam, a college instructor and another witness, told BBC Bangla that he saw the plane “directly”

strike the structure.

According to reports, a student also saw the plane strike the structure.

The head of Bangladesh’s interim administration, Muhammad Yunus, is also said to have promised that all required steps would be done to look into what caused the unfortunate tragedy.

“This is a time of great sadness for the country.

In a post on X, he allegedly stated, “I wish the injured a speedy recovery and instruct all authorities, including the hospitals concerned, to deal with the situation with utmost importance.”

The national flag will be flown at half-mast across Bangladesh on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, in observance of a day of sorrow.

Bangladesh is still grieving over one of the deadliest aviation disasters in the history of its capital as investigators start looking into what caused the crash.