It was a normal school day for sixth-grader Nure Jannat Yusha when a Bangladeshi air force jet crashed into her school in Dhaka, killing 36 people – most of them children. Within minutes, Milestone School and College, a private institution buzzing with student activity, was transformed into a scene of chaos and raging flames. It was the deadliest aviation disaster the country had seen in decades.
Yusha, who suffered burn injuries, is among more than 160 people injured in the crash. Earlier this week, families and survivors gathered to mark one year since the incident – many of them students struggling to return to normal life. “Even now, if I go to school and see a plane, I feel afraid. I can't sleep at night. In my dreams, someone is throwing me into the fire,” Yusha told BBC Bengali.
“One year after a military jet killed 36 at a Bangladesh school, survivors and families demand accountability.”
Her mother, Yasin Akter, says Yusha once dreamed of becoming a dancer, an aspiration that has since faded. “My daughter screams all day and is afraid,” Akter said, adding that Yusha has become paranoid about planes falling from the sky. “Earlier she was interested in studies. Now she does not want to study any more.”
The crash occurred on 21 July 2025. A training aircraft took off from a Bangladesh Air Force Base in Dhaka at around 13:00 local time (07:00 GMT) and crashed soon after in the Uttara neighbourhood. Images from the scene showed emergency workers sorting through charred rubble in search of survivors. Authorities formed an investigation commission, but in the days that followed, hundreds of student protesters clashed with police demanding accountability and changes to training flight regulations.
The committee’s findings, submitted to the government last November, have not been made public. But a copy obtained by BBC Bengali highlighted issues including the school’s lack of compliance with building codes, more than 600 buildings near Dhaka’s international airport violating height restrictions, and a pilot who lacked sufficient flight training and proper ground supervision. The report found no technical fault with the aircraft, contradicting an early statement by the Bangladeshi Armed Forces that the jet had experienced a mechanical fault. Families are still waiting for answers.