Milestone crash: Maherin Chowdhury had plans to improve the school in her ancestral village
Mahreen had been a teacher at Milestone for nearly 18 years
On 21 July, when a Bangladesh Air Force aircraft crashed into a building of Milestone School and College in Dhaka's Uttara, chaos and fire swept through the premises within moments. As people ran for their lives, Maherin Chowdhury, a teacher at the school, did not seek safety. Instead, she chose to stay behind—helping children escape through the flames, ultimately sustaining fatal burns.
Maherin was the coordinator for Classes 3, 4, and 5 at the primary section of the institution. After the crash, her colleagues urged her to leave the building. But she refused. Her priority was the children.
Doctors at the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery said she suffered 100% burns. After fighting for her life for several hours, Maherin passed away at 10:30pm last night.
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"She was the eldest of four siblings," her brother Munaf Mojib Chowdhury told The Business Standard. "After our parents passed away, she raised us. She was like a mother to us."
Still in disbelief, Munaf recalled their last family gathering just two nights earlier. "We stayed up late at her house, all of us, talking and laughing. We didn't know it would be the last time. The next day, while we were at our offices, we heard about the accident. It still feels unreal."
Maherin had been a teacher at Milestone for nearly 18 years.
Her devotion to education extended far beyond Dhaka. She was also deeply committed to improving the school in her ancestral village—Boglagari High School in Nilphamari's Jaldhaka upazila, founded by her forefathers. Recently, she was made president of the school management committee.
"She dreamed of improving the school," said Munaf. "She wanted to create better educational opportunities for village children. She had already begun making plans and taking steps toward that goal."
Maherin leaves behind two children—one studying for O Levels and the other in Class Nine.
Her burial will take place today between 3 and 4pm in her village, Boglagari, Jaldhaka, Nilphamari—beside the graves of her parents.
So far, 31 people have died in the tragic Milestone School crash.
