BAF training jet crash kills pilot in Ctg
Muktadir Rashid and Shahenoor Akther Urmi 09 May, 2024, 13:47
Muhammad Asim Jawwad
The fourth crash of the Russian-made advanced multirole aircraft Yakovlev Yak-130 in less than a decade on Thursday left one Bangladesh Air Force pilot killed and another injured in Chattogram.
Instructor pilot Squadron Leader Muhammad Asim Jawwad, 31, died hours after ejection along with another instructor, Wing Commander Md Shohan Hasan Khan, as the two-seat subsonic light combat aircraft caught fire in mid-air during a low-altitude acrobatic.
In a statement, Inter-Services Public Relations said that the aircraft crashed off Karnafuli estuary when it was returning to BAF Base Zahurul Haque in Chattogram at about 10:25pm soon after taking off.
After the crash, rescuers from the Bangladesh Air Force and Navy and local fishermen rescued the two pilots and rushed Asim to a nearby medical facility at Patenga Naval Base, where he was declared dead at about 12:00noon.
Wing Commander Shohan was given first aid.
With this, defence ministry officials said that four out of 16 Russian made advanced aircraft had crashed since prime minister Sheikh Hasina inducted trainers in December 2015.
The ISPR said that the prime minister and the BAF chief, Air Chief Marshal Shaikh Abdul Hannan, expressed their condolences to the bereaved family of Asim.
It said that the pilots could take the aircraft to a safer place after it had caught fire.
The rescue of debris was underway, the ISPR said.
The assistant air chief (planning) Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Kamrul Islam from Dhaka and BAF Base Zahurul Haque air officer commanding
AKM Shafiul Azam inspected the post-disaster management.
Captain Salahuddin M Rahmatullah, the head of the aircraft accident and serious incident investigation committee in Bangladesh, suspected that the pilot who died might have lost consciousness soon after the ejection from the aircraft.
Two other pilots suspected that the survival vest of pilot Asim did not work after he drowned in the Karnaphuli River, as it needed to be opened by the pilot himself.
Captain Salahuddin said that the post-mortem report could tell the investigator more.
The ISPR, meanwhile, stated that the BAF had formed a high-powered team to find the cause of the crash.
Deceased pilot Asim was born in Manikganj in 1992. He was commissioned in January 2010 with a sword of honour and graduated from the Bangladesh University of Professionals in 2012.
He left behind his family members, his widow, and two children.
He was a topper during a staff course in India and received the Chief of Air Staff's Trophy for Best in Flying (Indian Air Force).
Bangladesh procured 16 Yak-130 trainers developed by the Irkut Corporation from Russia under a $1 billion supplier's credit in 2012.
In late December 2017, two Yak-130s of the Air Force crashed at Maheshkhali in Cox's Bazar, and all four pilots could eject safely.
On July 11, 2017, another Yak-130 crashed in Chittagong, and the two pilots parachuted to safety.