At least 27 people, including 25 schoolchildren, were killed after a Bangladesh Air Force training jet crashed into a school building in Dhaka’s Uttara area on Monday.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the F-7 BGI aircraft took off at 1:06 p.m. and crashed around 1:30 p.m. into Milestone School and College, triggering a massive fire and chaos.

At a press briefing on Tuesday, Sayedur Rahman, special assistant at the National Burn and Plastic Surgery Institute, confirmed the rising death toll. Among the deceased were mostly children under the age of 12, along with the jet’s pilot and a female schoolteacher.

Rahman added that 78 people are still being treated at various hospitals, with five in critical condition. “Six bodies remain unidentified, and DNA samples have been collected,” he said.

Emergency teams from the Bangladesh Army and eight fire engines rushed to the scene to carry out rescue operations. Over 170 people were reportedly injured in the crash.

Brigadier General Mohammad Zahed Kamal, Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said the crash hit classrooms packed with students from grades two to five. A coaching class and a meeting room near the principal’s office were also damaged.

The exact cause of the crash is under investigation. Meanwhile, the country mourns one of its deadliest aviation disasters involving schoolchildren.