A fighter jet plane crashed into river Karnafuli while its pilot escaped unhurt near the Patenga Boat Club here yesterday afternoon. It was a jet of Bangladesh Air force.
The pilot Flight Lieutenant Ahmed Sanjid, the only person on board the routine training flight, ejected from the jet with a parachute and fell in the river. He was taken to Combined Military Hospital (CMH) after the local boatmen rescued him.
He was in good health and was kept under observation.
The F-7 fighter crashed around 2:10pm, 10 minutes after taking off from Sergeant Zahirul Haq Airbase at Patenga, sources said.
The fighter jet crashed with a big bang and plunged into the river, Karnaphuli Police Station Officer-in-Charge Aminur Rashid said, quoting witnesses.
After rescuing the pilot, local boatmen brought him to Juldha Matabbar Ghat. Later, an Air Force helicopter rushed there and took him away, added the OC.
“The aircraft appeared to develop technical problem and plunged into the river after faltering in the air,” said Yakub Ali, a driver of a private speedboat and also a witness.
“However, the pilot jumped immediately before the aircraft plunged into the river Karnaphuli,” he said adding, “I along with two other boatmen – Mohiuddin and Yusuf – rescued the pilot with a boat from the river.”
An ISPR press release said Chief of the Air Force Air Marshal Shah Mohammad Ziaur Rahman reached Chittagong from Dhaka by a helicopter and inquired about the condition of the pilot. A probe into the accident was underway.
Rescue teams of Bangladesh Navy and Coastguard were searching the river to salvage the wreckage of the jet, said the sources.
The aircraft plunged away from the port channel and it will not hamper movement of vessels to and from Chittagong port, said Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) Secretary Syed Farhaduddin Ahmed
Earlier, on June 16 last year, an FT-6 training aircraft of the BAF crashed into the Karnaphuli river channel at Patenga immediately after taking off from the Sergeant Zahirul Haq Airbase. Pilot Flight Lt Abdullah-Al-Mamun also ejected from the jet with a parachute safely.
Source: TDS
