One year after Milestone tragedy, grieving families await justice as key safety reforms remain stalled

One year after the Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft crashed into Milestone School and College in Uttara, killing 35 people, grieving families are still waiting for justice, survivors continue to battle life-changing injuries, and many of the safety reforms recommended by the official investigation remain unimplemented.

Prayers and remembrance programmes are being held today (21 July) to mark the first anniversary of one of the country's deadliest aviation disasters. 

But for many of the victims' families, the pain has been compounded by what they describe as a lack of accountability and slow progress in addressing the systemic failures that led to the tragedy.

The accident occurred on 21 July 2025 when a Bangladesh Air Force FT-7 BGI training aircraft lost altitude during its second circuit and crashed into the Haider Ali building of Milestone School and College. 

The crash triggered a massive explosion and fire, killing students, teachers, guardians and the pilot, Flight Lieutenant Towkir Islam.

Investigation exposed systemic failures

The official probe concluded that the disaster was not solely the result of an aircraft accident but also reflected deep-rooted failures in urban planning, regulatory oversight, aviation safety and building compliance.

The commission proposed more than 30 recommendations aimed at preventing similar incidents, including stricter enforcement of airport safety regulations, relocating military flight training outside Dhaka and gradually moving educational institutions away from airport approach zones.

However, documents reviewed by The Business Standard show that many of those recommendations remain unimplemented a year later.

Airport safety concerns remain

Milestone's Diabari campus lies within the airport's Obstacle Limitation Surface (OLS), a protected airspace where both building height and land use are subject to restrictions to ensure flight safety.

According to Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) documents, the campus is located within the airport's Inner Horizontal Surface and Inner Approach area, where buildings are not permitted to exceed 150 feet.

Despite those restrictions, Milestone School applied to Rajuk this month for permission to construct another seven-storey academic building on its campus. 

Construction of another previously approved 10-storey building is already underway.

When asked about implementation of the commission's recommendations, CAAB Chairman Air Vice Marshal Md Mostafa Mahmud Siddique referred The Business Standard to CAAB Member (Air Traffic Management) Air Commodore Md Nur-e-Alam.

Nur-e-Alam said CAAB had formally informed Rajuk about buildings exceeding permissible height limits around the airport.

"Over the past year, Rajuk, CAAB and other relevant agencies have been jointly reviewing these buildings. Additional personnel have recently been assigned to support the review process. However, Rajuk will be able to provide information on how many buildings have faced enforcement action," he said.

The investigation report also found that between 2015 and 2025, CAAB repeatedly warned Rajuk about 630 buildings violating airport height restrictions, but investigators found no evidence of effective enforcement.

Professor Adilur Rahman Khan, executive director of the Institute for Planning and Development (IPD), said permitting further construction in an area already identified as high-risk contradicts the investigation's findings.

"Following such disasters, authorities often become active for a while, but implementation eventually stalls," he said.

Families still seeking justice

Following the crash, the interim government announced compensation of Tk20 lakh for each deceased victim's family and Tk5 lakh for each injured survivor.

Many affected families rejected the offer.

Instead, the investigation commission recommended Tk1 crore in compensation for the family of each deceased child and Tk80 lakh for each deceased adult, alongside substantially higher financial assistance for burn victims requiring long-term treatment.

A member of the investigation commission, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no amount of compensation could erase the trauma suffered by victims' families, adding that successive governments had failed to implement the commission's recommendations.

Habibur Rahman, whose seventh-grade son Jabir Farhan died in the crash, said the victims' concerns have yet to receive an adequate response.

"I heard Milestone plans to build another building," he said. "Why does the administration not stop this? Schools should be relocated from this area before another tragedy happens."

For many families, the first anniversary serves not only as a day of mourning but also as a reminder that the questions raised by the disaster remain unanswered, and that the reforms intended to prevent another tragedy are still largely confined to paper.