Bangladesh govt sets up probe panel to investigate Dhaka jet crash

The Bangladesh government has formed a nine-member commission to investigate the tragic crash of a Bangladesh Air Force jet into Milestone School and College in Dhaka's Uttara area on July 21, The Daily Star reported.

The commission will be led by former secretary AKM Zafar Ullah Khan and has been asked to submit its report within four weeks, as per a gazette notification issued by the Cabinet Division on Sunday night.

The panel includes a retired air vice marshal, three additional secretaries from different ministries, the Dhaka divisional commissioner, an urban planner, and a professor from the mechanical engineering department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

The commission will look into the reasons behind the crash, assess the damage, and find out who was responsible. It will also examine how many people were killed or injured, especially students and teachers, and the extent of the damage caused to the school and nearby buildings.

According to the Daily Star, the panel will also review the construction of Milestone School and other structures around the airport. It will study whether these buildings were legally built and whether their locations posed risks due to their proximity to the flying zone.

The commission will also recommend measures to prevent such accidents in the future. This includes suggestions on how training aircraft should operate, rules for building structures in flying zones, and how emergency teams should respond to similar disasters.

The investigation will be carried out under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1956. The office of the Dhaka divisional commissioner will support the panel in its work. The commission also has the authority to visit any location in the country and question any person as part of the probe, according to The Daily Star.

Earlier in the day, a team of 21 doctors and nurses from Singapore, China, and India met Bangladesh's Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus at the State Guest House Jamuna.

These international medical teams are in Dhaka to treat victims of the plane crash, many of whom are schoolchildren.

During the meeting, Professor Yunus thanked the medical teams for their quick support and praised their efforts in helping during a difficult time.

"These teams have come not just with their skills, but with their hearts," he said. "Their presence reaffirms our shared humanity and the value of global partnerships in times of tragedy."

The foreign teams are working closely with Bangladeshi doctors to provide emergency care and trauma treatment to the injured.

At least 34 people, most of them students, died in the crash on July 21.