DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Hundreds of students protested Tuesday near the site of the crash of a Bangladesh air force training jet into a school in the nation’s capital, demanding accountability, compensation for victims' families and the halt of training flights.
The ongoing unrest over Monday's crash shut down traffic in parts of Dhaka, a city still recovering from that ousted the prime minister as the interim government seeks to restore order and organize elections next year. Some students entered the country’s administrative headquarters and were dispersed with tear gas and stun grenades.
The from the crash rose to 31, including at least 25 students, a teacher who died from burns she sustained while helping others escape the two-story building, and the pilot. Officials said 171 people, mostly students at Milestone School and College and many with burns, were rescued.
The military launched an investigation into the crash in Dhaka’s densely populated Uttara neighborhood. The civil aviation authority was not directly involved in the investigation.
Bangladesh declared Tuesday a day of national mourning.
The protesting students demanded “accurate†publication of identities of the dead and injured, compensation for families and an immediate halt to the use of “outdated and unsafe†training aircraft by the Bangladesh air force. They accused security officials of beating them and manhandling teachers on Monday.
The students became furious after two senior government officials — Law Adviser Asif Nazrul and Education Adviser C.R. Abrar — arrived at the scene, forcing them to take cover for several hours inside the campus before additional security forces arrived and escorted them out. Other groups of students forced them to go back.
Elsewhere in Dhaka, students broke through security barricades and entered the Bangladesh Secretariat complex, the country’s administrative headquarters. Security officials used stun grenades and tear gas to disperse them.
Jamuna TV said about 80 students were injured after security officials charged them with batons. The students demanded the resignation of Abrar, who they said delayed announcing that public exams were being canceled during Tuesday’s mourning.
The chaos spread in nearby areas.
Many say they're haunted by the tragedy
“Yesterday, when the plane was approaching, the sound was so loud you can’t even imagine — it felt like eardrums were about to burst. Within five seconds, the plane crashed right in front of me here,†said Smriti, a student who only gave one name.
"Suddenly, I saw flames rising fiercely upward from the building,†the 11th grader said. “When I got here, I saw some children lying with their limbs spread out, some of their lifeless bodies scattered around. Can you save them? Tell me, will they ever be able to return to their parents’ arms again?†she asked.
On Tuesday, 78 people, mostly students, remained hospitalized, said Sayeedur Rahman, a special assistant to Twenty deaths were reported initially, and seven people died of injuries overnight, authorities said. Another four deaths were reported later Monday, the military said.
Maherin Chowdhury, the teacher who rescued more than 20 students from the burning school, died from severe burns, her colleague Tanzina Tanu said.
Doctors said late Monday that the condition of about two dozen injured remained critical. A blood donation camp was opened at a specialized burn hospital where most were being treated.
Twenty bodies have been handed over to their families, with some possibly needing DNA matching after they were charred beyond recognition.
The plane reported a malfunction
The Chinese-made F-7 BGI training aircraft experienced a “technical malfunction†moments after takeoff from the A.K. Khandaker air force base at 1:06 p.m. Monday, according to a military statement.
The pilot, Flight Lt. Mohammed Toukir Islam, made “every effort to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas toward a more sparsely inhabited location,†the military said.
It was the pilot’s first solo flight as he was completing his training. It was unclear if he managed to eject before the jet hit the building.
The school, about an 11-kilometer (7-mile) drive from the air force base, is in a densely populated area near a metro station with numerous shops and homes.
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.
Chinese AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group Co. Ltd, manufactured the F-7 BGI and it is the final and most advanced variant in the Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, according to the company website. Media reports say Bangladesh ordered 16 aircraft in 2011, and they were delivered by 2013. It is the license-built version of the Soviet MiG-21.
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Associated Press video journalists Al-emrun Garjon in Dhaka and Yu Bing in Beijing contributed to this report.
