Milestone tragedy: Victims' families reject govt compensation, press 5 demands
Those who died were not just our children, they were our dreams, our support for the future, and the future of the country and the nation, they said
Family members of the victims who died and were injured in the BAF fighter jet crash at Milestone School and College have rejected the government's announced compensation and placed five demands instead, including a call for justice.
They made the demands in a press conference organised to reject the government's decision on compensation over the Milestone plane crash held in the Crime Reporters' Association of Bangladesh (Crab) today (8 January).
In his written statement at the press conference, Ashraful Islam, father of Nazia and Nafee, who were killed in the Milestone tragedy, said that when the law adviser and the education adviser visited Milestone School, local students, along with the families of the deceased and the injured, raised various demands.
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The advisers accepted those demands, but they have still not been implemented, he said.
"Those who died at Milestone were not just our children, they were our dreams, our support for the future, and the future of the country and the nation," he said.
He said that on 29 December, the victims' families learned that in an advisers' meeting, a proposal would be placed to provide a maximum of Tk1 crore to each deceased's family and a maximum of Tk60 lakh to each injured person, which the families of the victims are rejecting.
Instead, they are placing five demands on the government: ensuring justice for the incident, providing financial compensation as mentioned in the victims' writ petition, granting martyr status to those killed, declaring 21 July as a day of mourning with steps to preserve the memory, and rehabilitating the affected families.
At that time, many family members of those killed in the Milestone tragedy were present.
On 21 July 2025, at least 35 people, including children, were killed and more than 172 people were injured, many of whom suffered severe burn injuries, after a Bangladesh Air Force (BAF) training aircraft crashed into the primary school building inside the Milestone College campus at Diabari in the capital's Uttara.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the F-7 BGI training aircraft crashed after it took off from BAF Base Bir Uttom AK Khandker at 1:06pm due to a technical malfunction.
Personnel from the Bangladesh Army, Fire Service and Civil Defence, police, and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) rushed to the scene and worked jointly to rescue the victims and douse the flames.
