- The incident occurred in Milestone School and College in Dhaka.
- Firefighters sprayed water in plane shattered remains.
- The Bangladesh government promises an investigation into the incident.
Dhaka: At least 19 people were killed as a Bangladesh Air Force training plane crashed into a university and school campus in the capital of Dhaka on Monday, said a fire services officer.
More than 50 people, including children and adults, were hospitalized with burns, a doctor from the National Institute for Burns and Plastic Surgery told reporters.
The incident occurred at school and university in the northern area of Dhaka in Uttara, authorities said.
“The BGI BGI training plane of the Bangladesh Air Force crashed into Uttara. The plane took off at 13:06 [local time]”The Army Public Relations Department said in a statement.
The videos of the consequences of the accident showed a great fire near a grass that emitted a thick plume of smoke in the sky, while the crowds watched from distance.
Firefighters sprayed water in the shattered remains of the plane, which seemed to have gotten into the side of a building, damaging iron grills and creating a hole in the structure, showed visual reuter TV.
“A third grade student was brought dead, and three others, 12, 14 and 40, were admitted to the hospital,” said Bidhan Sarker, head of the burning unit at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, where some victims were taken.
The images also showed people screaming and crying while others tried to comfort them.
“When I was picking up (above) my children and went to the door, I realized that something came from behind … I heard an explosion. When I looked back, I only saw fire and smoke,” said Masud Tarik, a school teacher.
Muhammad Yunus, head of the interim government of Bangladesh, said that “necessary measures” would be taken to investigate the cause of the accident and “guarantee all kinds of assistance.”
“The loss suffered by the Air Force … students, parents, teachers and personal, and others in this accident is irreparable,” he said.
The incident occurs just over a month after an Air India plane crashed at the top of a medical university shelter in the neighbor of Ahmedabad City of India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground, marking the worst aviation disaster of the world in a decade.
