A year after deadly jet crash at Bangladesh school, families demand answers

Image source, AFP via Getty Images Image caption, Families of victims say they are still waiting for answers about the deadly jet crash By Mukimul Ahsan BBC Bengali , Reporting from Dhaka Published 25 minutes ago It was a normal day for sixth-grade student Nure Jannat Yusha when suddenly, a Bangladeshi air force jet crashed into her school in the capital, Dhaka, killing 36 people - most of them children. Within minutes, Milestone School and College, a private institution buzzing with student activity, was transformed into a scene of chaos and raging flames. It was the deadliest aviation disaster the country had seen in decades. Earlier this week, families and survivors gathered to mark one year since the incident - many of them students who say they are struggling to return to normal life, Yusha among them. "Even now, if I go to school and see a plane, I feel afraid. I can't sleep at night. In my dreams, someone is throwing me into the fire," she told BBC Bengali. She was one of more than 160 people who were injured in the crash at Milestone School - and among those at the memorial held at a hospital in Dhaka on Tuesday, where the families of some victims say they are still waiting for answers about the deadly crash. Yusha's mother Yasin Akter says her child had once dreamt of becoming a dancer - an aspiration that has since faded. "My daughter screams all day and is afraid," she says, adding that Yusha has become paranoid about planes falling from the sky. "Earlier she was interested in studies. Now she does not want to study any more." Image caption, Nure Jannat Yusha, on left, was one of the many students who suffered burn injuries after the crash 'No one can guarantee another plane will not fall' On 21 July 2025, a training aircraft took off from a Bangladesh Air Force Base in Dhaka at around 13:00 local time (07:00 GMT) and crashed soon after in the Uttara neighbourhood. Images from the scene hours after the crash showed scores of emergency service workers sorting through charred rubble in an attempt to find survivors. Authorities announced that an investigation commission had been formed to investigate the crash, but in the days that followed, hundreds of student protesters took to the streets, clashing with police as they demanded accountability over the disaster and changes to training flights regulations. The committee's findings, which it reportedly submitted to the government last November, have not yet been made public. According to a copy of the full report obtained by BBC Bengali, it highlighted issues like Milestone School's lack of compliance with building codes. It also found more than 600 buildings - including schools and hospitals - located near Dhaka's international airport that had violated height restrictions. The report also found that the pilot lacked sufficient flight training and proper ground supervision. And there was no technical fault with the aircraft, the report said - contradicting an early statement by the Bangl