On July 21, 2025, 1:06 PM local time, during a training mission, a Bangladesh Air Guard’s F-7 jet crashed into the campus of Milestone School and College in the Uttara neighbourhood of Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in a mass casualty event. The incident occurred shortly after the jet took off for a routine training mission from the nearby Bangladesh Air Guard base, Bir Uttom A. K. Khandker.
A Chinese-made Chengdu FT-7BGI trainer jet crashed shortly after take-off. The Chinese-made F-7 has a history of crashes in China, Egypt, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The F-7 is a reverse-engineered copy of the Soviet MiG-21, which also has a history of crashes in India. The Indian Air Force and media called the MiG-21 a flying coffin.
The Bangladesh Air Guard has a long history of aircraft crashes, attributed mainly to poor pilot training, the secondment of pilots to UN peacekeeping missions, and their absence from flying activities.
Significant corruption led to poor aircraft maintenance in Bangladesh. The Bangladesh Air Guard primarily operates Soviet-era F-7 and MiG-29 aircraft, manufactured in the 1980s.
The Bangladesh military’s propaganda unit, ISPR, spread disinformation that a technical or mechanical malfunction shortly after take-off caused the aircraft to become unresponsive and stall.
However, Bangladesh’s interim government established an independent investigation team, which found that the pilot’s error, due to poor training, was the reason for the crash.
The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Towkir Islam Sagar, steered the jet towards a populated area and ejected at a low altitude and died from his injuries in the hospital. Flight Lieutenant Towkir Islam Sagar was absent from flying activities due to his deployment in a UN peacekeeping mission. Before the deployment of the UN mission, pilot Flight Lieutenant Towkir Islam Sagar was seconded to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), a police force in Bangladesh.
The jet crashed into a two-story building used for primary school students, igniting a fire. At least 36 people were killed, including 32 students, three teachers, and the pilot.
More than 170 people were injured, many with severe burns, and were transported to various hospitals.
The crash prompted national mourning in Bangladesh, and the government declared a one-day state of mourning on July 22, 2025. The incident sparked protests from students and the public regarding the safety of military training flights over populated areas and the use of outdated aircraft. The Bangladesh air guard formed a high-level committee to investigate the cause of the crash.
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