Death toll rises to 31, mostly students, after plane crashes into Dhaka school

Dhaka: The death toll from the crash of a Bangladesh Air Force training jet into a school in Dhaka has risen to 31, most of whom are pupils, officials said on Tuesday.

The F-7BGI fighter jet crashed into the two-storey Milestone School and College in the north of the capital on Monday.

The armed forces said in the afternoon that the death toll had risen to 31, without giving details.

Twenty deaths and some 171 wounded were reported on Monday. Seven more people died of their injuries overnight.

The crash occurred minutes after the plane took off on Monday afternoon, according to the Bangladeshi military.

The pilot of the training aircraft noticed a technical malfunction soon after it took off from Dhaka's Kurmitola airbase.

At the time of the crash, many children were still at the school, which teaches children from elementary class up to 12th grade.

The government announced a day of national mourning today. The national flag has been lowered to half-mast at all public and private institutions.