Invocation
O solemn day of Monday, the twenty-first of July, in the year 2025, etched in grief upon our collective memory—when a Bangladesh Air Force F-7 BGI training jet, tail number 701, succumbed to mechanical failure and plummeted into the Milestone School and College campus in Uttara, Dhaka, at approximately 1:06 PM BST, during active classes for young children.
Before us lie the unsparing outcomes: twenty lives extinguished—one pilot in the cockpit and nineteen souls on the ground, among them innocent students and educators; over 160 injured, some grievously burned, their bodies and spirits wounded in agony.
This national tragedy bears weight not only for the immediate devastation but as a sorrowful echo in a long procession of loss—following the Gopalganj massacres of 16 July 2024—and further unravelling an already fragile tapestry of national mourning. We now raise this elegy to the victims, the survivors, and the bereaved, weaving words into a mournful liturgy drawn from deepest respect and lamentation.
Lament for the Dead
Hearken, O Bangladesh, to this elegiac lamentation:
In the hour when midday light danced on schoolyard walls, young lives were shattered by fire and steel. Classrooms, hallowed for learning, were transformed into scenes of calamity. In a building occupied by Grades 1 through 8—especially Grades 4 and 6, where at least thirty-five pupils per room had been seated—fate intervened with cruel precision.
See how childhood was truncated—voices silenced, futures extinguished. Among the dead were children of tender innocence, and teachers who nurtured them. The pilot, Flight Lieutenant Towkir Islam Sagar, too perished—his final sacrifice made in an attempt to steer the doomed aircraft away from denser zones, a gesture of courage amid catastrophe.
For these fallen souls, may the earth lie lightly upon them; may their memory endure in the national heart. Though time may pass, the wound remains—a scar carved in ash and tears.
Consolation for the Wounded
To those who survive with wounds deep and enduring—those more than one hundred and sixty injured, many sustaining severe burns and grievous trauma—
Their bodies bear scars that speak not only of fire, but of hope yet unquenched. In hospitals such as the National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery, doctors and aid workers labour tirelessly as victims are airlifted, treated, and resuscitated. Sixty patients were immediately admitted to that institute alone, many in critical condition; others were transferred among multiple hospitals across Dhaka’s medical network.
To each injured child, each wounded parent, teacher, or staff member—we dedicate empathy unbounded. May their healing, though slow, be met with a common embrace. May each hospital corridor bear witness to courage renewed, and each infusion drip a testament to endurance. For hope still lives in your recovery, in each breath regained against the grip of suffering.
Solace for the Families
Grieving parents and families, shattered by sudden loss or by the sight of suffering endured—
Their tears flow like rivers of sorrow through nights unending. The schools that once nurtured joy now echo with absence. They awakened to destinies upended, their children or loved ones taken before their time. Words fail to encompass the depth of their anguish.
To them, we extend this tribute in verse:
We honour the teacher who clasped hands in prayer,
The guardian whose embrace now holds only memory’s air.
Though absence dwells where presence once lay,
Your love, unwavering, will light their way.
In mosques and chapels, prayers were raised across the nation on 22 July, declared a day of mourning. Flags lowered to half-mast bore silent witness to collective grief; religious gatherings offered solace; people from all strata of society visited burn units, conveyed condolences, and demanded full investigation and support.
May these gestures, though small, bear them up amid sorrow. May they find strength in shared remembrance, comfort in common mourning, and quiet peace in the enduring legacy of those taken.
National Reflection
This calamity strikes at the heart of Bangladesh—a nation enduring unrelenting sorrow since 5 August 2024, then the Gopalganj massacres of 16 July 2024, followed by this air crash on 21 July 2025. The pain is cumulative; the grief layered. One tragedy follows another, compounding the weight borne by a grieving nation.
The concerned authorities have pledged a full inquiry into root causes. A committee has been convened, investigations launched; assurances offered of transparency and accountability.
Let this be the solemn vow: that from ashes and ruin may come resolve. Let safety be strengthened in schools and airspaces alike; let protocols be strict, oversight vigilant. Let lessons be learned so no classroom again becomes a site of collective trauma.
Call to Remembrance
O citizens of Bangladesh, young and old, uphold the memory of those lost and wounded. Let names be spoken, faces recalled, and lives honoured in daily acts of compassion.
Let each child in future generations learn of the Milestone tragedy, not as a tale of terror, but as a solemn pledge to guard life above all. May every educator, every parent, every leader feel anew the fragility of belonging and the responsibility to protect.
Light candles in quiet vigils. Read verses in memory. Build scholarships in the names of the lost. These acts may ease the relentless ache of absence, and transmute grief into purpose.
Closing Benediction
Now let silence enfold this elegy like a sky of mourning overhead. Let hearts continue to ache, for such sorrow cannot be easily dismissed.
To the dead: rest with honour.
To the wounded: recover in body, if not in memory.
To the bereaved families: may peace, though hard-won, find its way into your days.
We who remain vow:
We shall remember.
We shall mourn.
We shall guard life with renewed wisdom,
And let love be the answer that rises from loss.
This elegy seeks to mourn with solemn dignity, to console with empathy, and to affirm a national commitment to remembrance and rebuilding. May the souls lost on that tragic day, and the hearts broken by it, rest in eternal peace—and may their memory guide us toward compassion, safety, and renewed humanity.
P.S.: This elegy is written in honour of the dead, the wounded, and their bereaved families, with grave solemnity and empathy. It reports on the crash that occurred on 21 July 2025 on the Milestone School and College campus in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
