Charred building endures memories of victim kids

The charred building of Milestone School and College was standing in choked desolation. As if the time has stopped here, the walls are silently lamenting, and the air is heavy with the smell of burning kids. Parents who have lost their children and classmates who have lost their dear friends have rushed in. Some are reciting prayers in low voices, while others are looking at the torn notebooks of the deceased children and students, trying to walk through the memory lane.

Just a few hours ago, the Milestone School and College in Diyabari of Uttara has lost several of its students, and two teachers were also gone forever in a Air Force training plane crash. They all were burnt to coal. More than hundred others writhing in the hospital with burnt bodies. Entire nation is mourning the loss of lives and is praying for the speedy recovery of the injured.

On Tuesday (July 22), the atmosphere across Milestone Campus was melancholic. The smell of burnt fuel, glass, and plastic was all around.

Amid the sorrowful atmosphere, the fellow students were seen staging protest to meet with their six-point demands. Despite the indescribable grief, the situation heated up throughout the day with the violent movement of students, who were angry over various 'mismanagement' by the authorities.

When two advisers and the press secretary of the chief adviser came to visit the scene on behalf of the interim government, the angry students kept them confined for nine hours.

Amid such unrest, Views Bangladesh spotted 12-year-old Abdullah, who miraculously survived the horrific incident. This Milestone student stood in front of the rubble of the burnt classroom with tearful eyes. The child, holding his mother's hand, said: "As punishment for not being able to bring my homework that day, I was thrown out of class. I went to drink water to the next building, and the accident occurred."

Abdullah's mother Jannat stood nearby and spoke in a quiet voice: "Maybe it was God's mercy. Otherwise, my son would have been burned in the fire. The water pot fell from his hand. Now, I don’t dare to think about the event."

Some of the other parents were holding small prayer books, some were showing pictures of the classroom from the previous days on their mobile phones. The rooms are now carrying the signs of disaster.
None will be able to express in words the horrific scene of a classroom in the building burned by the fire of a crashed fighter jet. Burnt benches and bookshelves, scorched ceiling fans, blood-stained pencils, torn books and notebooks, water bottles, tiffin boxes are scattered around. Inside a small notebook lying in a corner, the title of a half-written essay is 'My Dear Friend'. Perhaps those words were written for a friend who is no longer here.

Former student Bulbul came to stand by a friend who had lost a classmate. Standing in front of the building, his voice trembled and he looked silently through the burnt windows. Wiping his eyes, Bulbul said: "I studied in this building for four years. I spent the best time of my life here. Today, looking at the building in such a pitiful state, it feels like a part of me has burned. I can't even imagine - someone burned to death in this classroom. It's unimaginable."

The fatigue under the eyes of school branch math teacher Mohammad Abu Hena is clear. He said: "These boys and girls are part of our family. If even one of them doesn't return, it's our failure too. None of those who were supposed to be in class today are here, some are injured, some are grieving. I've just been staring at the building all day today. It felt like we lost everything in one moment."

He said: "We are teachers, we don’t just teach, we love children, we scold them, we applaud their success. When I see their tears today, I understand where we stand."

As of 2 pm on Tuesday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) reported that 31 people were killed in the plane crash. However, the interim government has been able to confirm the death of 29 people.