DHAKA: Pilot error was to blame when a fighter jet smashed into a Bangladesh school in July, killing 36 people in the country’s worst aviation crash in decades, the government said on Wednesday.
Pupils had just been let out of class when the Chinese-made F-7 BJI aircraft slammed into the private Milestone School and College in Dhaka on July 21.
The government announced the findings of a committee report into the crash after it was submitted to the interim leader, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.
“There was an error in his take-off,” Yunus’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam told reporters.
More than 170 people were injured in the crash, many badly burned.
The military had initially said that the 27-year-old pilot was on a routine training mission when the jet “reportedly encountered a mechanical failure.”
He tried to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas but crashed into the two-story school building.
The crash sparked anger and demands that the air force shift its training programs from the densely populated capital.
The air force had initially rejected those demands, saying a base in the capital was important for strategic reasons.
However, Alam said the report recommended that the air force “conduct its training outside Dhaka.”
It also advised that the Civil Aviation Authority ensure “infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, warehouses, and small industries are not built near airports.”
Pilot error caused deadly Bangladesh jet crash: govt
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Pilot error caused deadly Bangladesh jet crash: govt
- “There was an error in his take-off,” Yunus’s press secretary Shafiqul Alam told reporters.
- More than 170 people were injured in the crash, many badly burned
Swedish intelligence warns of increased Middle East war fallout
- “The threat has increased primarily against American, Jewish, Israeli interests or opposition figures” Hallstrom told AFP
- Hallstrom also said the war in the Middle East could have “considerable impact” on European security
STOCKHOLM: A top Swedish intelligence official on Thursday warned of increased threats against American and Israeli interests, as well as Iranian dissidents, in Sweden because of the war in the Middle East.
The Scandinavian country’s security, which had already deteriorated after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has worsened since the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday unleashed a new war, according to Fredrik Hallstrom, head of operations for the Swedish Security Service (Sapo).
“The threat has increased primarily against American, Jewish, Israeli interests or opposition figures, rather than toward Sweden as a nation or country,” Hallstrom told AFP.
“I’m talking about opposition figures with such influence that they could actually either be perceived as a serious threat to the Iranian regime, or in fact be one,” he explained.
Hallstrom also said the war in the Middle East could have “considerable impact” on European security.
Police have taken measures to increase security around potential targets, such as embassies, he said.
Sapo has previously pointed to Iran, China and Russia as the main threats to the country.
It has accused Iran in particular of recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden — a claim Iran denied.
Other risks highlighted by Sapo include increased intelligence activities in Sweden, surveillance and actions targeting Iranian dissidents in exile, as well as the acquisition of equipment, research and know-how that could contribute to the development of nuclear weapons.
“We know that Iran uses cyberattacks and hacks phones and computers in order to monitor others,” Hallstrom said.
He added that this monitoring could be potentially used to get individuals “in Sweden to provide information about other people, by exerting pressure.”
