The plane involved, an F-7 BGI type monoreactor of Chinese manufacturing, had taken off at 1:06 p.m. local (7:06 GMT) from Khandakar air base, in the suburbs of the capital, when it experienced a technical problem shortly after takeoff.
“It seems that he was the victim of a mechanical problem. The exact cause is the subject of an investigation,” the army said in a statement.
A Boeing from United Airlines suffered a sudden loss of altitude in full flight: 6 injured
“A big boom”
His pilot, identified as Lieutenant Toukir Islam Sagar, tried in vain to keep his plane in the fall of the inhabited areas of the capital, said the army. “Despite all its efforts, the plane crashed on a two-story building from the Milestone school,” she continued.
The emergency services were quickly deployed on the site of the Milestone school, where they extracted the victims of the rubble on civilians, noted an AFP photographer.
“There were two fighter planes (in the sky), one came across the part (of the building) here where an English course was held for primary students,” a student testified to AFP, Shafiur Rahman Shafi, 18.
“Many young students and teachers were injured,” added the young man, who was in one of the school play areas at the time of the accident.
“It made a big boom. We felt a shock like an earthquake. And then everything caught fire,” he said.
The National Institute of Grand Burns was quickly taken by storm by many parents of students who came to try to identify their loved ones, noted an AFP journalist.
“We have desperately looked for my 12 -year -old cousin in several hospitals,” Toffazzal Hossain, 30, told AFP. “We finally found his body here,” he continued crying.
“Fallen right next to her”
In a corridor of the establishment, Monsur Helal, 46, went to the bedside of his wife Mahrin, an unconscious school agent on a bed.
“Mahrin framed the children who came out of the class when the plane suddenly fallen next to her,” he told AFP. “I was able to speak to her briefly, then she lost consciousness”.
In the early evening, many mothers of the victims were gathered in front of the hospital, in tears or feverishly exchanging news on the health of their children.
In front of the same institute, dozens of people line up to give their blood.
The provisional head of government, the Nobel Peace Prize in Muhammad Yunus, expressed “his deep sorrow and his sentence”.
“The government will take all the necessary measures to investigate the origin of the accident and assist everyone,” he added.
The authorities decreed a national mourning day across the country on Tuesday.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was “deeply shocked and saddened” and said he was ready to provide Bangladesh all the support and assistance possible “.
In 1984, a Fokker F-27 from the Biman company connecting the port of Chittagong (southwest) to Dhaka crashed, caused the death of the 49 passengers and crew members on board.
