Wedding party lands chopper in Kashimpur prison, pilot says otherwise

Billal Hossain is an expatriate who has been living in Malaysia for years. He returned to Bangladesh recently to attend a wedding. Like many Bangladeshis who want to arrive “in style,” Billal chartered a helicopter. On Thursday, the helicopter carrying Billal and his family were flying to Kuddusnagar in Konabari, Gazipur from Comilla. Around 11am, when the helicopter was flying over Kashimpur Central Jail, the pilot mistook it for Konabari Kuddusnagar School grounds and landed in a restricted zone of the high-security prison. Security forces promptly responded, surrounding the helicopter, wary it may be a jailbreak. The wedding party was detained by the prison guards and interrogated. Deputy Inspector General (Prison) Touhidur Rahman confirmed the incident. The helicopter in question belongs to Meghna Aviation. Reports have confirmed the aviation company has apologised for the pilot’s error. Prison authorities released Billal and his entourage after making them sign a bond around 12:30pm. As of this time, it has not been confirmed if the party made it to the wedding on the helicopter.

Pilot says otherwise

The Dhaka Tribune reached out to the pilot, Wing Commander (retd) Sohel Latif, who denied landing in the prison grounds. He said: “That is now what happened. I landed the helicopter 1100 yards (3300 feet) away from the prison grounds. The place where we were going to land was waterlogged, so I had to put the helicopter down in a safe location.” The veteran pilot said he put the helicopter down in a public school field away from the prison. He stressed that he did not even land in the prison. “I have been flying for over 30 years, I would not make a mistake. I landed the helicopter in the school knowing full well where everything was. It was not a prison. Things have been blown out of proportion by the media.”