A fighter of the Bangladesh Air Force crashed into the Chittagong Port channel on Thursday but the pilot survived by ejecting himself just before the crash.
Air Force sources said flight lieutenant Ahmed Sanjid had taken off the Jahurul Haque Air Base at Patenga at 1:48pm in an F-7 fighter aircraft and the plane crashed after circling in the air several times about 2:10pm.
Mohammed Shawkat, a driver of the Chittagong Port, who was waiting at the shore to carry port pilots to foreign vessels, said he had heard a big bang and saw the burning plane headed into the river.
‘I also saw the pilot flying with a parachute at the same time,’ he said. The pilot fell into the river with a parachute.
The Kotwali police officer-in-charge, Aminur Rashid, said the plane fell into the River Karnaphuli at a place between Jetty 11 of the port and Matabbarghat.
‘Boatmen rescued the pilot soon after the incident,’ the police officer-in-charge said. An Air Force helicopter took him to Combined Military Hospital about 2:40pm.
Aiyub Ali, a boatman who was among the rescuers, said the pilot had fallen into the river 20 yards off the south shore. The pilot was rescued unconscious.
An F-6 aircraft of the Air Force earlier crashed into the estuary of the River Karnaphuli after taking off the same airbase on June 16, 2009. The pilot of the plane, flight lieutenant Mamun, also survived the crash.
