By Ruma Paul
DHAKA (Reuters) -One person was killed as a Bangladesh air force training aircraft crashed into a college campus in the capital city of Dhaka on Monday, a fire services official said.
The incident occurred in Dhaka’s northern area of Uttara, the military’s public relations department said in a statement.
“Bangladesh Air Force’s F-7 BGI training aircraft crashed in Uttara. The aircraft took off at 13:06 (0706 GMT),” it said.
More than 50 people, including children and adults, were hospitalised with burns, a doctor at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery told reporters.
The death toll is yet to be ascertained, a military spokesperson said.
Muhammad Yunus, head of Bangladesh’s interim government, said “necessary measures” would be taken to investigate the cause of the accident and “ensure all kinds of assistance”.
“The loss suffered by the Air Force…students, parents, teachers and staff, and others in this accident is irreparable,” he said.
Videos of the aftermath of the crash showed a big fire near a lawn emitting a thick plume of smoke into the sky, as crowds watched from a distance.
Local newspaper Prothom Alo said that initial reports indicated the plane had crashed onto the roof of the college canteen. Reuters could not independently verify this information.
The incident comes a little over a month after an Air India plane crashed on top of a medical college hostel in neighbouring India’s Ahmedabad city, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground, marking the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade.
(Reporting by Ruma Paul and Sudipto Ganguly, writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh and Christina Fincher)
Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.