Dhaka, 22 July 2025 (dpa/MIA) – The death toll from the crash of a Bangladesh Air Force training jet into a school in Dhaka has risen to 27, most of whom are students, an official said on Tuesday.

The Chinese-made F-7BGI fighter jet crashed into the two-storey Milestone School and College in the north of the capital on Monday.

Twenty deaths and some 171 wounded were reported initially, and seven died of their injuries overnight.  

Sayedur Rahman, an assistant to the head of the interim government, Muhammad Yunus, told reporters on Tuesday the death toll had risen to 27. The pilot and 25 children are among them, he said.

The identity of six of the deceased could not be determined, and some 78 people, mostly students and many with burn injuries, were undergoing treatment at different hospitals, he said.

The crash occurred minutes after the plane took off on Monday afternoon, according to the Bangladesh military's media division.

It said that the pilot of the training aircraft noticed a technical malfunction soon after it took off from Dhaka’s Kurmitola airbase.

At the time of the crash many children were still present at the school, which teaches children from elementary up to 12th grade.

The government announced a day of national mourning on Tuesday to pay respect to those who died.

Photo: EPA