Pilot error caused deadly Bangladesh jet crash: govt

DHAKA - Pilot error was to blame when a fighter jet smashed into a Bangladesh school in July, killing 36 people in the country's worst aviation crash in decades, the government said on Wednesday.

Pupils had just been let out of class when the Chinese-made F-7 BJI aircraft slammed into the private Milestone School and College in Dhaka on July 21.

The government announced the findings of a committee report into the crash after it was submitted to the interim leader, Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus.

"There was an error in his take-off," Yunus's press secretary Shafiqul Alam told reporters.

More than 170 people were injured in the crash, many badly burned.

The military had initially said that the 27-year-old pilot was on a routine training mission when the jet "reportedly encountered a mechanical failure".

He tried to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas but crashed into the two-storey school building.

The crash sparked anger and demands that the air force shift its training programmes from the densely populated capital.

The air force had initially rejected those demands, saying a base in the capital was important for strategic reasons.

However, Alam said the report recommended that the air force "conduct its training outside Dhaka".

It also advised that the Civil Aviation Authority ensure "infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, warehouses, and small industries are not built near airports".

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