At least 19 people have died after an Air Force training aircraft crashed into a school campus in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka.
Children are among the victims of the crash at Milestone School and College, according to Reuters, with the confirmed number of fatalities expected to rise.
One of the deceased is the pilot of the F-7 BGI aircraft, Associated Press reported. More than 100 people, many of them students, were also injured in the crash, which occurred in Dhaka’s northern Uttara area.
“Bangladesh Air Force’s F-7 BGI training aircraft crashed in Uttara. The aircraft took off at 13:06 [02:06 ET],” the country’s military said in a statement.
The plane went down shortly after takeoff and caught fire, sending huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the air. The cause of the crash is not yet known.
“A third-grade student was brought in dead, and three others, aged 12, 14, and 40, were admitted to the hospital,” said Bidhan Sarker, head of the burns unit at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, where dozens of victims were taken, according to Reuters.
Masud Tarik, a teacher at the school, described how parents were picking up their children at the school gate when the plane came crashing down.
“I heard an explosion,” Tarik told Reuters. “When I looked back, I only saw fire and smoke.”
Images from the scene show emergency responders desperately searching for survivors in the rubble of the crash site.
Muhammad Yunus, chief adviser to the interim government in Bangladesh, vowed that a full investigation would be conducted, while expressing his “deep grief and sorrow” for the victims of the tragedy.
“The loss suffered by the Air Force, the students, parents, teachers, and staff of Milestone School and College, as well as others affected by this accident, is irreparable,” Yunus said in a statement. “This is a moment of profound pain for the nation.
“The government will take necessary measures to investigate the cause of the accident and ensure all forms of assistance.”
Bangladesh will observe a national day of mourning on Tuesday to honor the victims of the crash, according to the BBC.
The incident comes just one month after an Air India jet en route to London’s Gatwick Airport crashed into a medical college hostel in the city of Ahmedabad, killing all but one of the 242 people on board and a further 19 on the ground.
