Every morning, Mahrin Chowdhury, 42, stood at the gate of Milestone School and College in Uttara’s Diyabari area, her warm smile guiding young students, nursery to Class III, into a world of learning.

As the school’s coordinator, holding their small hands was her daily ritual, a quiet act of care that defined her.

But on Monday, July 21, at 1:30pm, that sacred routine turned into a nightmare when a Bangladesh Air Force F-7 BGI training jet crashed into the school’s Haider Hall canteen, unleashing a firestorm that engulfed Mahrin and her students.

Now, with 80% of her body burned, Mahrin lies on life support in the ICU of Dhaka Medical College Hospital’s Burn Unit, her heroism in saving her students a beacon of hope amid a tragedy that claimed 19 lives and injured 164.

The crash, occurring just 24 minutes after the jet’s 1:06pm take-off from Kurmitola’s Air Force Base AK Khandaker, turned a place of learning into a scene of chaos. The plane, crippled by a mechanical fault, slammed into the canteen roof near the school gate, where Mahrin was ushering students out after classes.

Flames erupted, and the air filled with screams and smoke. Despite her own body catching fire, Mahrin’s instinct was to protect her children. “She was leading them out when the plane hit,” her husband, Mansur Helal, told Jago News, his voice breaking. “Even as she burned, she kept trying to save them.”

Mahrin’s selfless act saved several students, but at a devastating cost. With burns covering nearly her entire body, “from head to toe,” Mansur said, estimating “100% burns”, she was rushed to the Burn Unit.

Before being placed on life support, Mahrin whispered to her husband about the crash, her words a testament to her courage: “The plane came down right at the gate. I had to get the kids out.”

Now, machines breathe for her as her family, colleagues, and students gather outside the hospital, praying for a miracle.

Mansur, standing vigil outside the Burn Unit, described Mahrin as more than a teacher. “She loved her students like her own children,” he said, tears welling. “She’d stay late to help them, always smiling. Now she’s fighting for her life because she wouldn’t leave them.”