'Flames, loud bang and screams': Eyewitness recall horrific ordeal as Chinese-made Bangladesh jet crashes into college
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "'Flames, loud bang and screams': Eyewitness recall horrific ordeal as Chinese-made Bangladesh jet crashes into college")
Bangladesh jet crash Photograph: (Reuters)
Another student, Ariful Islam, said that he was on the seventh floor of a building when he saw the crash. He said that he was looking out the window and suddenly saw a plane crash into the adjacent building's first floor, where junior students were taking a class.
Bangladesh jet crash: As the Bangladesh jet crash shook the whole nation, eyewitnesses recall the horrific ordeal as they witnessed the aircraft hitting the college in Dhaka, killing at least 20 people, while leaving over 100 injured on Monday (July 21). The Chinese-made F-7 BGI hit into Milestone School and College in Dhaka's Uttara during a routine training mission.
One of the eyewitnesses to the deadly crash recalled the ordeal, saying that the jet crashed just 10 feet ahead of him.
"The jet crashed right in front of my eyes, just 10 feet ahead of me," Fahim Hossain, the eyewitness of the crash of the Bangladesh Air Force aircraft, said.
According to Bangladesh local media, The Daily Star, Hossain is an eleventh-grade student at the college. He said, "The jet crashed right in front of my eyes, just 10 feet ahead of me. It hit the ground floor of a two-storey building around 1:15 pm, where classes for the primary section were taking place."
He added that the ground floor was severely damaged by the impact of the crash.
Another student, Ariful Islam, said that he was on the seventh floor of a building when he saw the crash. He said that he was looking out the window and suddenly saw a plane crash into the adjacent building's first floor, where junior students were taking a class.
Trending Stories
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
"The entire area was engulfed in flames with a loud bang, and screams began coming from the building. We hurriedly evacuated our building," Islam told The Daily Star.
While a staff member of the Air Force, Rasel Mia, arrived at the incident site shortly after the crash. He said, "What happened inside the ground flood is beyond description."
One of the fathers, who was waiting near the College's entrance, said that he spoke to his son over the phone, but still hasn't found him. Meanwhile, some students escaped the crash and were panicked and in distress.
Know about the F-7 BGI jet
The aircraft that crashed in Dhaka's college was an F-7 BGI, a Chinese-made fighter jet considered an advanced variant of the Chengdu J-7. Manufactured by China's Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, the jet was mainly used as an interceptor aircraft in various air forces around the world.
The J-7 is itself a Chinese clone of the Soviet-era MiG-21, which is one of the most mass-produced fighter aircraft in history. In 2013, as China discontinued the J-7 series, it began exporting the upgraded F-7 BGI version to countries like Bangladesh before that.
Bangladesh got 16 F-7 BGI jets between 2011 and 2013 as part of its effort to modernise its aging fleet. The F-7 BGI had a KLJ-6F radar system that allowed it to spot targets at a distance of more than 86 km. Moreover, the plane can track six targets and engage two simultaneously.
