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At least 27 people have been killed after a Bangladesh air force training jet crashed into a college and school campus in Dhaka, officials say, with 88 people, including children, being treated in hospital.
The aircraft crashed soon after it took off from an airbase in the capital on a routine training mission. The military said the plane experienced a mechanical failure.
Sayedur Rahman, special assistant to the chief adviser on health, told reporters 27 people had died and 88 were admitted to hospital with burn injuries after the crash.
The government announced a day of mourning, with flags at half-mast and special prayers at all places of worship.
The pilot was among those killed in the incident, the military said, adding a committee had been formed to investigate what happened.
The jet, a F-7 BGI, is the final and most advanced variant in China’s Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, according to Jane’s Information Group.
Bangladesh signed a contract for 16 aircraft in 2011 and deliveries were completed by 2013.
Shahbul, father of a missing girl student, cries after a Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft crashed into a school campus shortly after takeoff in Dhaka. Source: AAP / Mahmud Hossain Opu / AP
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.
Firefighters sprayed water on the mangled remains of the plane, which appeared to have rammed into the side of a building, damaging iron grills and creating a gaping hole in the structure, footage filmed by Reuters showed.
Bidhan Sarker, head of the burn unit at the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, said: “A third-grade student was brought in dead, and three others, aged 12, 14 and 40, were admitted to the hospital.”
Images from the scene also showed people screaming and crying as others tried to comfort them.
“When I was picking [up] my kids and went to the gate, I realised something came from behind … I heard an explosion. When I looked back, I only saw fire and smoke,” said Masud Tarik, a teacher at the school.
