On 21 July 2025 a Bangladeshi Air Force training jet took off from a Dhaka base and crashed into the Milestone School and College, killing 36 people – most of them students – and leaving more than 160 injured. The incident is now the deadliest aviation disaster in the country’s recent history.
Yesterday, a memorial held at a Dhaka hospital gathered parents, survivors and student activists to mark the anniversary of the tragedy. Mother Yasin Akter confided that her six‑year‑old daughter, Nure Jannat Yusha, once dreamed of dancing, a passion that has vanished after her injuries. Yusha now doubles as a night‑time nightmare, learning that a flash of light can trigger a burn and that focus has crumbled to the point that reading a sentence now takes hours.
Other survivors, such as fifth‑grade student Mehreen, report that their wounds render them unable to return to school. She reports that even a sliver of sunlight intensifies pain, leaving her sleepless and unstable with recurring dreams of the crash.
The commission set up by the Ministry of Defence produced a report that was submitted to the government in November. The findings called out severely non‑compliant building codes at Milestone School, over 600 nearby structures that violated height restrictions, and pilot training deficiencies. No technical fault on the aircraft was identified; the report contradicts an early statement which had claimed a mechanical failure caused the accident. The report remains unreleased, a fact which has fueled student and parent protests calling for transparency.
In a statement at the memorial, Bangladesh’s Health Minister Sardar Sakhawat Hossain pledged governmental support for survivors needing further medical treatment, while a family member of Prime Minister Tariq Rahman praised the courage of the victims. Yet, many families remain frustrated that the committee’s recommendations – including compensation and comprehensive medical subsidies – have yet to materialize.
The tragedy has forced a re‑examination of air‑space safety protocols around Dhaka’s international airport. The newspaper’s own footage and subsequent investigations underscore the urgency of ensuring that training flights do not pass over densely populated areas, especially schools and hospitals.
