Fatema laid to rest in Bagerhat following Milestone plane crash

A heart-wrenching scene unfolded as Fatema Akter's body arrived at her village home before dawn yesterday. 

The 9-year-old student of Milestone School and College died in the Bangladesh Air Force aircraft crash in Uttara on 21 July.

Fatima was laid to rest in her ancestral village in Bagerhat's Chitalmari upazila yesterday (22 July). She was buried at the family graveyard in Kunia village of Kalatala union following her namaz-e-janaza in the morning.

Grief-stricken relatives and villagers gathered to catch a final glimpse of the young girl, their wails echoing through the quiet village. Her grandparents, uncles, aunts, and neighbours all came to bid her farewell.

Fatema was the eldest of three siblings. Her father, Boni Amin, works in Kuwait, while her mother Rupa is a homemaker. The family had been living in Dhaka.

"I was near Milestone School at the time of the accident," said Fatema's uncle Syed Noman Hossain. 

"As soon as I heard what happened, I rushed to the spot and joined the rescue efforts, unaware that my niece was one of the victims."

"Later, I identified her body at the hospital. We brought her home this morning and completed the burial," he added. 

Her aunt Mukti Begum said, "We brought her body early in the morning and buried her after the janaza. The whole village is in shock. No one imagined that such a young life would end this way. Her parents are unable to speak. This grief is something we may never overcome."

On Monday (21 July), around 1:18pm, a Bangladesh Air Force F-7 BGI training aircraft crashed into the Milestone School and College building in Dhaka's Uttara. 

So far, 32 people, mostly children, have been killed or injured in the incident.