A Tragic Day for Bangladesh

As I am writing this post, at least nineteen individuals are confirmed to be dead and well over hundred and fifty individuals are being treated at various hospitals across the Dhaka city with burn injuries for the most of the part. Few hospital authorities are requesting civilians to volunteer to donate blood and people are stepping forward. I am also mentally preparing to donate blood if necessary. Victims families are gathering at the hospitals looking for their loved ones, mostly teenage kids.

Now, what happened is a Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) training jet has plunged from the sky and crashed into a school building located in Diabari area of Uttara within the capital Dhaka. This neighborhood is located right next to the main national airport of the country which is also being used by the BAF base.

The F-7BGI jet involved in this tragic accident was being flown by Flight Lieutenant Towkir Islam who happens to be on his first solo flight. What is being told by the media is that the jet malfunctioned. This is still a speculation at this point and we can get the real picture only after the official investigation and once the report is out. In any case, what I am trying to point out here is, BAF currently operating number of old jets and F-7 is one of them.

This is not the first time the F-7 is involved in a crash in Bangladesh. It crashed back in 2001, 2008, 2015 and in 2018 in the past. These F-7s are basically the export variant of the Chinese jet, widely known as Chengdu J-7. It is a licensed copy of Soviet built Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 which were introduced back in early 1960s.

Something must be done to avoid such tragic incident over and over. For the time being we all are praying and we urge you to keep those in your prayer who just lost their loved ones. Our hearts were torn apart and the entire nation mourns the loss of it's children. May the departed souls rests in peace.

Update (July 22, 2025): The official death toll rises to 27 as more individuals passed away last night while being treated at number of hospitals. I visited the school today and volunteered to donate blood at a hospital in Uttara where some injured children are being treated. The hospital authority assured that they do not need the blood right now. However, I left my contact information just in case if they need me for blood.

Update (July 23, 2025): Total number of fatalities rises to 32. It is being suspected by many that the death toll may continue to rise as we are getting critical updates from media sources.