DHAKA: Police used tear gas to disperse angry students in Bangladesh on Tuesday who demanded answers from the interim government after an air force fighter jet crashed into a Dhaka school and killed 31 people, at least 25 of them children.
The children, many aged under 12, were about to return home from class on Monday when the Chinese-manufactured F-7 BGI Bangladesh Air Force jet ploughed into their school and burst into flames, trapping pupils in the fire and debris.
The military said it had suffered mechanical failure.
Students from the school and others from nearby colleges protested as two government officials visited the crash site, demanding an accurate death toll and shouting, “Why did our brothers die? We demand answers!”
Elsewhere in the capital, hundreds of protesting students, some of them waving sticks, broke through the main gate of the federal government secretariat, demanding the resignation of the education adviser, according to local TV footage.
Police baton charged them, fired tear gas and used sound grenades to disperse the crowd, leaving dozens injured, witnesses said. Dhaka Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Talebur Rahman said they had to use tear gas to disperse the protesters. He said he did not have information on the number of injured.
Rescue workers continued to scour the charred buildings for debris on Tuesday as distressed residents of the area looked on. Some parents were inconsolable.
Abul Hossain broke down as he spoke about his nine-year-old daughter, Nusrat Jahan Anika, killed in the crash. “I took her to school yesterday morning like every day. I had no idea it would be the last time I would be seeing her,” he said. She was buried on Monday night.
Rubina Akter said her son Raiyan Toufiq had a miraculous escape after his shirt caught fire when he was on a staircase.
“He sprinted to the ground floor and jumped on the grass to douse it,” she said.
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