Plane crash kills female trainee pilot in Bangladesh

A 22-year-old Bangladeshi woman trainee pilot was killed and her trainer injured today when their trainer aircraft caught fire on a runway here.

Tamanna Ferdous Rahman, 22, died as the Cessna D152 trainer crashed within the periphery of the Rajshahi Shah Makhdum Airport soon after it took off. The critically wounded trainer, former army lieutenant colonel Sayeed Kamal, was rescued by officials. Kamal sustained 80 per cent burn injuries.

"The woman (pilot) was seeking help and people rushed to the scene but could not rescue her immediately as the plane caught fire. The trainer somehow managed to come out sustaining critical burn wounds," a police officer told PTI over phone.

Airport manager Setafur Rahman told newsmen that sensing the technical fault, the pilot tried to land but the "aircraft caught fire and crashed."

A private TV channel reported that Kamal was initially rushed to a nearby hospital and later was flown to a state-run Dhaka facility for better treatment.

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) in a statement said they have formed a four-member committee to investigate the crash.

Rahman became the third woman pilot to be a victim of an aviation accident in over three decades.

The last crash took place in 1998 when Faria Lara along with her co-pilot Rafiqul Islam died after their training craft crashed in Dhaka.

Kaniz Fatema Roksana was the first Bangladeshi woman commercial pilot who died in a crash along with 49 people onboard in 1984 when a Biman Bangladesh Airlines Fokker crashed in Dhaka due to bad weather.