A Bangladesh air force training aircraft crashed into a school in the nation's capital Monday afternoon, killing the pilot and 26 other people, most of whom were students, officials said. The crash caused a fire that left the two-story building in Dhaka smoldering. Officials said 171 people, mostly students and many with burns, were rescued and taken from the scene in helicopters, ambulances, motorized rickshaws, and in the arms of firefighters and parents, the AP reports. Twenty deaths were reported initially, and seven died of their injuries overnight, authorities said Tuesday morning. Doctors said late Monday that the condition of about two dozen injured remained critical. On Tuesday, 78 people, mostly students, remained hospitalized.
Twenty bodies have been handed over to their families. Some of the charred bodies were beyond recognition and they might need DNA tests for matching. A blood donation camp has been opened at a specialized burn hospital where most of the injured were being treated. Maherin Chowdhury, a teacher who rescued more than 20 students from the burning school, died from severe burn injuries, her colleague Tanzina Tanu said. It is the deadliest plane crash in the Bangladeshi capital in recent memory. In 2008, another F-7 training jet crashed outside Dhaka, killing its pilot, who had ejected after he discovered a technical problem.
The Chinese-made F-7 BGI training aircraft experienced a "technical malfunction" moments after takeoff at 1:06pm, and the pilot attempted to divert the plane to a less populated area before crashing into the campus of Milestone School and College, according to a statement from the military. But it remained unclear how the pilot died: whether he was inside the jet or ejected himself before it hit the building.
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