Probe reveals reason behind Bangladesh’s worst aviation disaster in decades

Military training jet crashed into Dhaka school and killed 36 people in July

A pilot error caused one of the worst aviation disasters in Bangladesh’s historythat killed 36 people in July, according to an investigation report submitted to the South Asian country’s interim leader.

A Chinese-made Chengdu FT-7BGI plane of the Bangladesh Air Force crashed into the Milestone School and College in the capital Dhaka about an hour past noon on 21 July, just as students were coming out of their classrooms.

The crash killed 25 children, many of them under 12, and left some 170 people injured, over two dozen critically.

A committee formed to investigate the crash concluded it was caused by the pilot losing control during a training flight.

“There was an error in his takeoff,” Shafiqul Alam, press secretary to interim leader Muhammad Yunus, said. “The situation went beyond the pilot’s control. That is the conclusion.”

Fire service and security personnel at the site of the aircraft crash in Dhaka on 21 July 2025 (AFP via Getty)

The investigators said that they reached the conclusion after interviewing about 150 people, including experts and witnesses.

They made 168 findings in the report as well as 33 recommendations to prevent such accidents in the future.

A major recommendation calls for relocating primary flight training of the Bangladesh Air Force outside Dhaka to ensure public safety.

The inquiry also revealed that the school did not have approval from the Capital Development Authority and had just one staircase instead of the required three.

A passenger airplane flies overhead as people watch a rescue operation after an air force aircraft crashed in Dhaka on 21 July 2025 (REUTERS)

The crash sparked public outrage and calls to stop the use of "outdated and unsafe" training aircraft by the air force.

The military had initially said the 27-year-old pilot was on a routine training mission when the jet encountered a mechanical failure and crashed.

It was the deadliest aviation tragedy in Bangladesh since 1984, when 49 people died after a flight of the national carrier, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, crashed into a marsh while attempting to land near the Dhaka airport.

In 2008, another air force training jet crashed outside the capital, killing the pilot even though he had ejected after discovering a technical problem.