Rajshahi Correspondent :A female trainee co-pilot died of burn injury and her trainer was critically injured, when the training aircraft suddenly caught fire and crashed on the runway at Hazrat Shah Makhdum Airport in Rajshahi on Wednesday.The deceased was identified as Tamanna Ferdous Rahman, 22, hailed from Tangail and resident of Nikunja-2 in Dhaka. She was learning flying with the aircraft of Bangladesh Flying Academy– Cessna D-152. On the other hand, the injured is Lt Col (Retd) Sayeed Kamal. According to the eyewitnesses, the engine of the training aircraft caught fire at the airport while taking off around 3:00 pm, leaving Tamanna dead on the spot and Syed Kamal injured with burns. The body of Tamanna was taken to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH) for autopsy, while Syed Kamal was first admitted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Rajshahi with 80 percent burns. Later, he was shifted to the CMH in Dhaka.Rumi, an Engineer of Bangladesh Flying Academy, said that the training plane made a crash landing at airport runway while Tamanna was taking training from the Academy. Setafur Rahman, Manager of Shah Makhdum Airport said, “Sensing the technical fault, the pilot tried to land and the plane caught fire.”The ttaining aircraft crashed violently just 15-20 feet away from the runway and caught fire immediately. Hearing the sound of plane crash, some residents from the adjacent Chalkipara area rushed to the spot jumping over the boundary wall. They saw that Tamanna was crying for help from the burning plane. But none of the locals could bring her out from the wreckage due to huge flame. Trainer Sayeed Kamal, however, managed to crawl out from the blazing aircraft through the window.About 20 minutes later, the vehicles of Fire Service and Civil Defence reached the spot. But it was too late. Tamanna was roasted alive inside the plane.Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) formed a four-member committee to investigate the incident. The committee members have already set out for Rajshahi.Earlier on September 27, 1998, a training plane of Parabat Airlines crashed at Postogola in Dhaka due to technical fault, leaving its pilot Faria Lara and co-pilot Rafiqul dead.
