Death toll rises to 27 in Bangladesh air force jet crash, says official

DHAKA: At least 27 people were killed after a Bangladesh Air Force training jet crashed into a college and school campus in Dhaka, officials said on Tuesday, with 88 people, including children, being treated in hospital.

The F-7 BGI aircraft crashed soon after it took off at 1:06pm (0706 GMT) on Monday from the airbase in Kurmitola in the capital on a routine training mission. The military said the plane experienced a mechanical failure.

Sayedur Rahman, special assistant to the chief adviser on health, told reporters that 27 people had died and 88 were admitted to hospital with burn injuries.

The government announced a day of mourning, with flags at half-mast and special prayers at all places of worship.

The pilot was among those killed in the incident, the military said, adding that a committee had been formed to investigate what happened.

The F-7  BGI is the final and most advanced variant in China's Chengdu J-7/F-7 aircraft family, according to Jane's Information Group. Bangladesh signed a contract for 16 aircraft in 2011 and deliveries were completed by 2013.

The crash comes weeks after an Air India plane crashed into a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad in neighbouring India, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.