A training aircraft of the Bangladesh Air Force has crashed in Chittagong.
Police said the plane crashed in the remote area of the southeastern district’s Lohagara around 2:15pm on Tuesday.
“An air force plane, used for training purposes, crashed in the remote area of Bara Hatia’s Faridghona. I am on my way to the crash site,” Lohagara police OC Md Shahjahan told to reporter.
The Inter Services Public Relation Directorate or ISPR confirmed the incident and said the pilots on board were unharmed.
“It was a training plane of the air force. The two pilots are unharmed,” ISPR Director Lt Col Rashidul Hasan told to reporter.
Wing Commander Kamrul and Squadron Leader Nazmul, who were on board, parachuted to safety, a Bangladesh Air Force officer told to reporter, asking not to be named.
ISPR Assistant Director Nur Islam said the aircraft was a Yak-130, which was inducted into the Bangladesh Air Force in 2015.
He, however, could not say what caused the aircraft to crash.
The Russian-made Yakovlev Yak-130 is a subsonic two-seat advanced jet trainer and light-attack aircraft or lead-in fighter trainer.
Bangladesh had signed a deal with Russian state arms export agency Rosoboronexport to buy 16 Yak-130 trainers developed by the Irkut Corporation.
The deal was signed in 2013, according to Rosoboronexport head Anatoly Isaikin in an interview with Russia’s ‘Kommersant’ newspaper.