"The situation there was beyond tragic. There are things I saw which I am finding hard to describe. There was fire everywhere... some people made it out alive, others weren't so lucky," says 24-year-old student volunteer Sarder Riyad, who was among the first to reach the site of the horrific plane crash in Dhaka on Monday, 21 July, that claimed the lives of at least 27 people, most of whom were children, and injured around 170.
The tragedy, which marks the deadliest aviation disaster Bangladesh has seen in decades, unfolded at around 1:05 pm local time when a Bangladeshi F7 training fighter jet crashed into Milestone School and College situated in Dhaka's Uttara area.
Riyad, who is the head organiser of the Turag Thana unit of Students Against Discrimination, was barely 2 km away from the school when he got the news of the crash. He was instructed by his seniors to take a team and head down there to help with rescue efforts. However, since he was closeby, he didn't wait to gather a team but headed there alone to save time while his colleagues made their way from different parts of the capital.
'Carried People to Hospitals in Rickshaws, Buses'
Riyad said that he was among the first to reach the site of the crash, even before local law enforcement did.
"I was able to reach the school before emergency services did as I was in the neighbourhood. There were no ambulances when I reached the site. So, a few others and I carried injured persons in our arms and rushed them to hospitals in rickshaws and buses," Riyad said while speaking to The Quint.
The student volunteer said that the priority for them was to save as many people as possible from the flames.
"Most of the victims were children studying in the school. It's so tragic. I saw so many people with burn injuries. It's hard to put it into words," he says.
Riyad says that he moved several injured or unconscious people to nearby hospitals, such as the Mansoor Ali Hospital, Bangladesh Medical, and Ruby Emergency. Those who were in an extremely serious condition were taken to the Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn & Plastic Surgery.
A little while after he arrived at the site, local police, ambulance services, and even armed forces reached the school to bring the situation under control.
"Fire services were extremely efficient in dousing the flames. The fire ignited by the aircraft's jet fuel was so fierce that nobody was able to enter the building. But the fire brigade managed to bring it under control," Riyad adds.
Once government services took control of the rescue efforts, Riyad and his team along with other NGO groups organised food for the injured and local law enforcement. He says that he left the site by around 8:30 pm, only when the immediate rescue efforts had been completed.
Day of Mourning in Bangladesh
Meanwhile, the Muhammad Yunus-led Bangladesh government announced a day of mourning on Tuesday, 22 July, in memory of the lives lost.
"The loss suffered by the Air Force, the students, parents, teachers, and staff of Milestone School and College, as well as others affected by this accident, is irreparable. This is a moment of profound pain for the nation," Yunus took to X to say.
He also said that an emergency hotline number had been set up at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, further adding that the bodies which could be identified would be handed over to families, while others would be identified through DNA sampling.
While an initial toll of 20 deaths had been announced on Monday, Yunus' special adviser Saidur Rahman said while speaking to reporters in Dhaka on Tuesday, 22 July that 27 lives had been lost so far, of which 25 were children.
According to a statement by the Bangladeshi Armed Forces, the F-7 BGI Aircraft, which was manufactured by China, experienced a "technical malfunction" immediately after takeoff. The pilot, Flight Lt Mohammed Toukir Islam, who is also among the victims, made "very effort to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas toward a more sparsely inhabited location", the military statement added.
However, the armed forces said that further investigations would be conducted to ascertain all the facts of the case.
The last time Bangladesh experienced a major plane crash was in 1984, when all 49 people aboard a Biman Airlines flight lost their lives after the plane crashed in a marsh near the Dhaka Airport.
(This is a developing story. It will be updated with further developments.)