A Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft crashed into a school campus in the capital of Dhaka shortly after takeoff on Monday, killing at least 18 people, per the AP. The pilot is among the dead, but more details about fatalities were not immediately available. The Chinese-made F-7 BGI aircraft crashed into the campus of Milestone School and College in the Uttara neighborhood as students were attending classes in the afternoon. More than 160 people were reported injured, and local media say most are students.
The military said the jet took off at 1:06pm local time and crashed soon after. The cause was not immediately clear. Rafiqa Taha, a student who was not present at the time of the crash, told the AP by phone that the school, with some 2,000 students, offers classes from elementary to 12th grade. "I was terrified watching videos on TV," the 16-year-old said. "My God! It's my school."