Fighter jet crashes into school, kills 20

A BANGLADESHI fighter jet crashed into a school in the capital Dhaka this week, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 170 in the country’s deadliest aviation accident in decades.

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Many of the victims were young students who had just been let out of class when a Chinese-made F-7 BJI aircraft slammed into the Milestone School and College.

A photographer at the scene saw fire and rescue officials taking away the injured students on stretchers, while army personnel helped clear the mangled wreckage.

A military statement said 20 people were killed, including the pilot, and 171 others injured when the jet crashed following a mechanical failure.

An 18-year-old student, Shafiur Rahman Shafi, said he heard a huge blast that felt like an earthquake.

“There were two fighter planes... Suddenly one of the two planes crashed here (in the junior playground),” he said.