On a seemingly ordinary Monday afternoon, July 21, at 1:30pm, the quiet hum of classes at Milestone College’s junior campus in Uttara’s Diyabari area was shattered by a catastrophic roar.

A Bangladesh Air Force F-7 BGI training jet plummeted from the sky, smashing into the school’s junior section building, where nursery to third-grade students were immersed in lessons.

The crash sparked a fire, left one person dead, injured at least 25, and thrust a community into a frantic struggle for survival, with scenes of bravery and panic unfolding in equal measure.

Rezaul Islam, a lecturer at Milestone College, stood shaken as he recounted the horror to BBC Bangla. “It happened just before or during the break,” he said.

“The jet slammed directly into the building where our youngest students - nursery, classes one, two, and three – were studying. It tore a hole through the gate and burst into flames.”

Video footage circulating on social media captured the chaos: a fire raging in the plane’s engine on the ground floor, adjacent to the school garden, as firefighters battled to douse the blaze. Smoke billowed, and terrified children were evacuated from upper floors, their cries piercing the air.

The jet, which took off just 90 seconds before the crash, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate (ISPR), plummeted into the heart of the campus. Social media clips showed students and locals running from the wreckage, while flames licked the shattered building.

As the inferno spread, rescue efforts kicked into high gear.

Fire service teams and Bangladesh Army personnel swarmed the site, pulling children and staff from the debris-strewn building.

Videos showed soldiers and locals carrying the injured, some critically, to safety, rushing them to hospitals. Of the 25 reported injuries, 20 were admitted to the National Burn Institute in Dhaka, where medical teams worked tirelessly to treat severe burns and trauma.

Local residents, many parents among them, joined the rescue operations, their quick response saving lives in the critical moments before emergency services arrived.

The crash claimed one life, though details of the victim – whether a student, staff, or passer by – remain unclear pending investigation.

The ISPR confirmed the aircraft was a training jet, but the cause of the crash is yet to be determined.

As rescue operations wind down, questions loom over safety protocols for low-flying training jets near populated areas.

The ISPR has promised a thorough probe, while Milestone College faces the daunting task of rebuilding – physically and emotionally. For the children who fled their classrooms, the memory of fire and smoke will linger, but so too will the courage of those who ran toward danger to save them.