Two Biman Boeing aircraft collide again at Shahjalal airport

Two Biman Bangladesh Airlines aircraft collided again at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Sunday night.

The wings of the two aircraft were damaged due to the collision.

Airport sources said a Boeing 787 Dreamliner was taken to a hanger at around 9:20pm after it had landed from Singapore. The aircraft collided with a Boeing 737 aircraft parked in the hanger area. The left wing of the Boeing 737 and the right wing of Boeing 787 were damaged in the crash.

Tahera Khandakar, general manager (public relations) of Biman, confirmed the news.

She said a team consisting of Biman engineers are probing the incident. The team is supposed to submit a probe report today which can determine the extent of damage and reasons for the collision.

This is not the first instance of such accident at Shahjalal Airport as two incidents were reported in this year alone. A Boeing 737 and another Boeing 777 aircraft collided on 10 April. Five personnel including chief engineer was suspended for their negligence after the accident.

A US-Bangla Airways Ground Support Equipment (GSE) collided with Biman aircraft on 4 June. The Biman aircraft was grounded after the accident, and later repaired.

A source of Biman said the accidents take place due to negligence of ground handling service officials who are vested with following the protocols while parking an aircraft at hanger.

There is also a lack of manpower and equipment in Biman’s engineering department, the source added.

A director of Biman, on condition of anonymity, told Prothom Alo on Monday morning that Biman authorities look after ground handling service of Shahjalal airport. These accidents take place frequently as they are not regularly trained on ground handling.

National flag carrier Biman now has 16 Boeing aircraft and five DC 8-400 aircrafts.