'They are also my children': Dhaka teacher died saving students after fighter jet hit school; hailed as hero

In a heroic act during the Bangladesh fighter jet crash , 46-year-old school teacher Maherin Chowdhury lost her life after bravely rescuing several students from a raging fire. The F-7 BGI aircraft, on a routine training mission, crashed into the Milestone School and College campus in Dhaka on Monday, claiming over 30 lives, most of them children, and injuring over 170 others, making it one of the deadliest aviation accidents in Bangladesh ’s recent history.

As flames engulfed the building, Maherin rushed back and forth into a burning classroom to rescue trapped students, even as her own clothes caught fire. "When her husband called her, pleading with her to leave the scene and think of her children, she refused, saying 'they are also my children, they are burning. How can I leave them?'" said her brother, Munaf Mojib Chowdhury, as quoted by Reuters.

Maherin, an English teacher, succumbed to severe burn injuries later that day. She is survived by her husband and two teenage sons.

The military confirmed the crash was caused by a mechanical failure. The pilot, who had tried to divert the aircraft away from populated areas, was also among the dead.

"I don’t know exactly how many she saved, but it may have been at least 20. She pulled them out with her own hands," Munaf added, saying he learned of her bravery from students at the hospital.

"When the plane crashed and fire broke out, everyone was running to save their lives, she ran to save others," said Khadija Akter, headmistress of the school’s primary section.

Maherin was laid to rest on Tuesday in her hometown of Nilphamari in northern Bangladesh.