Desk Report,
A half-burnt shoe
I picked up my mobile and saw three ‘missed calls’ in a row. I quickly called back Prothom Alo First News Head Imam Hossain Saeed Bhai. He said, ‘Quickly go to Milestone School in Uttara. An Air Force training aircraft has crashed at the school, you should go quickly.’
A half-burnt shoe
As soon as the conversation ended, I immediately rented a motorcycle through the ‘ride sharing’ service. After getting the motorcycle in just three minutes, I told the driver, ‘Brother, go a little faster if you can.’
I went around Kuril and took the Kalshi flyover and through Mirpur DOHS to reach Uttara Uttar station of the Metrorail, but I got into a traffic jam. After moving a little further, the law enforcement officers tried to stop the motorcycle there, and even though I was able to pass by showing my office ID card, I got into a traffic jam again. Then I paid the fare to the driver and ran to the scene. There, I understood from a man’s gesture in the crowd that the helmet given by the driver was on his head, but he was not given it back due to the rush. By then, the clock had passed 2:15. It was impossible to move forward due to the eager crowd. Even then, I pushed as much as I could and reached the gate of Milestone School. There, I spoke to a guardian named Lucky Akhter in the crowd. He said to whoever he saw, “Brother, my younger son is stuck inside the school. Rescue my son.” At that time, some people were advising Lucky Akhter to contact the teachers. But he was in no mood to listen to anyone. He kept saying the same thing over and over. Lucky Akhter seemed to have disappeared somewhere in the crowd.
Later, pushing through the crowd, I climbed the wall of an under-construction building on the right side of the entrance of Milestone School and College and entered inside. Then I ran towards the stairs. I quickly climbed the stairs and climbed to the roof of the building. As far as I remember, it was a four- to five-story building. But I couldn’t see the situation inside the school or the rescue efforts well when I went to the roof. Then I quickly got down and ran across three or four buildings on the right side of the building under construction, climbed an iron grill between the two buildings, and reached the Milestone School transport pool. Then, seeing the barbed wire fence, I was looking for an alternative way to enter. Unable to find any way, I climbed a mango tree nearby and managed to climb the barbed wire fence and enter the college. But at the beginning, the security guard stopped me. Even as a journalist, I couldn’t get through. After many requests, he let me go. But after going a little further, I faced another obstacle. The army personnel and volunteers in charge of rescue efforts and discipline there said that I couldn’t go any further. After several requests in various ways, I went to the exact spot (the building where the plane crashed), first of all I took pictures on my mobile phone, made several videos of the rescue operation and sent them to the office on WhatsApp. At the scene, several fire service vehicles, ambulances and members of various forces involved in rescue operations were running around. Stretchers were arriving one after another, the fire service and other ambulances were carrying the casualties. They were running towards the hospital in a moment, honking their horns. I informed other colleagues in the office about the situation at the scene and the latest information on the rescue operation by phone. At the same time, I sent some pictures and videos of the rescue operation.
Suddenly I noticed Md. Sabuj Mia, an accounting teacher at Milestone School and College, in front of the damaged building, calling for people to donate blood to the hospital through a small microphone. I spoke to him in one fell swoop. He said that some of the students had already left, while others were waiting for their relatives. In the meantime, the plane crashed. He said he saw the injured bodies of three or four children in front of the building. While I was talking to the accounting teacher, some army personnel arrived. Later, unable to stay there, I went to the back of the damaged building. Then I saw that one side of the back wall of the building was broken. Rescue workers were taking out various parts of the crashed plane through that broken part. I was quickly taking pictures. In the meantime, I saw some more parts of the crashed plane lying a little away from the broken part of the building. I ran there and saw burnt chairs scattered randomly. It was not difficult to understand that these chairs were from the damaged room on the ground floor of the building. Among the rubble along with the burnt chairs, my eyes suddenly caught sight of a half-burnt black shoe. While I was taking pictures and videos of this shoe, for some reason, I was crying inside, and I could not stand still….
For six and a half hours from 2 pm to 8:30 pm, I spoke to army personnel, police officers, fire service officers, relatives and witnesses at the scene on various issues. Then, when I left for the office at around 8:45 at night, for some reason I kept thinking about that half-burnt shoe. I don’t know if the child in the shoe is still alive or not…
