In Bangladesh, hundreds of protesters have gathered to demand accountability after a fighter jet of the Air Force crashed into a Dhaka school, killing 31 people, including 25 students.
The Bangladesh Air Force jet crashed into their school and blew up on them on Monday, when the children, many under 12, were about to leave for class. The aircraft’s mechanical malfunction, according to the military.
As two government officials visited the crash site on Tuesday, students from the school and nearby colleges protested, yelling, “Why did our brothers die? ” and demanding an accurate death toll. We demand solutions”!
Local TV footage shows hundreds of protesting students breaking through the main gate of the federal government secretariat in the capital, some of whom were waving sticks. They were also requesting the resignation of the education adviser.
The protesting students demanded that those who had died and were injured be named, that their families be compensated, that outdated and risky jets be decommissioned, and that changes be made to the air force training procedures.
About 80 students were hurt when police used tear gas and sound grenades to disperse the crowd, according to Jamuna TV, a station in Bangladesh.
Talebur Rahman, the deputy commissioner of the Bangladesh Metropolitan Police, claimed that the Reuters news agency had not received any information about the number of injured.
According to Al Jazeera’s Tanvir Chowdhury, the students have a number of demands from the crash site at Milestone School and College.
They want an exact figure – the hospital’s capacity to house the names of the people who died and those who are injured. Additionally, Chowdhury argued, “They want compensation and a public apology.”
They also want the air force to alter its training procedures and depart from its outdated aircraft.
In a statement from the military, 165 people were admitted to hospitals in the city and 31 had died. 68 people were still receiving care, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and 10 were in critical condition.
The interim administrator of the nation, Muhammad Yunus, said in a press release that the government, the military, school, and hospital authorities were working together to publish a list of the named victims.
Additionally, it stated that the air force would be instructed not to fly training aircraft over densely populated areas.
The country is in mourning, according to the statement.
As depressed locals watched as rescue workers searched the burned-out buildings for debris on Tuesday.
The entire world is in mourning, the statement read. This is something that [this country] has never experienced,” said Al Jazeera’s Chowdhury.
Some parents had no control over their children.
Abul Hossain shook his head as he described Nusrat Jahan Anika, his nine-year-old daughter, who was killed in the collision.
“I went to school with her yesterday morning, like I always do. Hossain told Reuters, “I had no idea this would be my last encounter with her.” On Monday night, she was laid to rest.
Rubina Akter claimed Raiyan Toufiq, who had escaped after his shirt caught fire while he was climbing a staircase, miraculously made it out.
Akter told Reuters, “He sprinted to the ground floor and jumped on the grass to obuse it.”
He was saved from severe burns by torn his shirt and vest inside.
When the plane crashed, Smriti, a student in 11th grade, said she felt her eardrums were “about to burst.”
Some children lay on their limbs, some of their lifeless bodies dispersed around, I saw. Can they be saved? Tell me, “When will they ever have access to their parents’ arms again?” she inquired.
According to the military, the jet was taking off from a nearby airbase for a routine training mission. The pilot attempted to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas after experiencing mechanical failure, but it crashed into the school campus.
Flight lieutenant Mohammed Toukir Islam, one of the victims, was the pilot. He was finishing his training and making his first solo flight.
Source: Aljazeera
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