An air of gloom is prevailing at the houses of deceased Squadron Leader Asim Jawwad, the pilot of a Bangladesh Air Force Yak-130 jet trainer that crashed in Patenga, Chittagong, on Thursday.
He died while undergoing treatment at the BNS Issa Khan Hospital around 12:30pm.
During a visit to his house in Manikganj, this correspondent found her mother wailing over the death of her only son.
The crying of Jawwad's mother Nilufa Akhtar Khanam, on the seventh floor of the Golden Tower in front of the municipal office of the city, cast a shadow of mourning over the entire area.
She was found lamenting and saying: “My son calls every morning. But today he did not make a phone call. When will Jawwad make a call?”
Relatives including her sister Parveen, a school teacher, were unable to control Nilufa Begum.
"I am alive but my only son is no more, how it is possible? Now I have to bury him, how this could be possible,” she continued with tears in her eyes.
Asim Jawwad was the only child of Nilufa Akhtar Khanam and Amanullah.
Jawwad's cousin Rajib Hossain said he joined the Bangladesh Air Force Academy (BAFA) in 2008. He was commissioned as an officer in the Air Force in 2011.
Rajib also said that Jawwad has a six-year-old daughter and a six-month-old son and wife Rifat Antara. His family used to live in Patenga.
Jawwad’s elder uncle journalist Suruj Khan said that Jawwad was very talented. He dreamed of becoming a pilot since childhood. That dream came true and he became a pilot but that was only for a short time. The family has been struck by a thunder bold following sudden demise of Jawwad.
He said that Jawwad's body will be brought to Manikganj on Friday.
The jet trainer crashed in Patenga at around 10:30am due to a mechanical fault.
Shakila Soltana, deputy police commissioner (Port), Chittagong Metropolitan Police (CMP), confirmed the matter.
Officer-in-Charge of Sadarghat Naval police station Ekram Ullah said the two pilots, Wing Commander Soham and Pilot Jawwad were ejected with parachutes.
According to sources, the aircraft was seen flying over the Patenga Navy Boat Club and then suddenly it caught on fire and crashed into the sea.
Manufactured by Russia's Irkut Corporation, the Yakovlev Yak-130 is a subsonic two-seat advanced jet trainer and light combat aircraft. With its development initiated in 1991, the Yak-130 took its inaugural flight on 25 April 1996.
The Yak-130 first came to Bangladesh in 2015.
