A routine Bangladesh Army training exercise turned deadly Wednesday when a Chinese-origin tank suddenly exploded while firing, killing two soldiers and seriously injuring an officer.
The deadly blast occurred at the Hathazari Field Firing Range in Chattogram, according to Bangladesh’s Inter-Services Public Relations Directorate.
The injured officer was initially transported to the Combined Military Hospital in Chattogram before being airlifted to Dhaka for advanced treatment.
The Economic Times reported that the vehicle involved was a Chinese-origin Type 59 tank—an aging platform derived from the Soviet-era T-54.
The Times of India also identified the tank as a Type 59.
However, the Bangladesh military did not identify the model in its initial statement, and at least one separate report described the vehicle as a Type 69IIG. The precise model has therefore not been independently confirmed.
The tank reportedly exploded while its crew was conducting a live-fire exercise.
WATCH: (Graphic content)
Chinese origin Bangladeshi tank explodes during exercise. pic.twitter.com/cXQtyAgIyG
— News Arena India (@NewsArenaIndia) September 9, 2026
The cause of the explosion remains under investigation. Military officials have not said whether it was caused by a defective shell, an ammunition-handling failure, a malfunction inside the tank, or another problem.
Authorities said steps were being taken to determine exactly what went wrong.
The deadly accident raises serious new questions about Bangladesh’s growing military dependence on Communist China.
China is already Bangladesh’s largest supplier of military hardware, providing Dhaka with tanks, combat aircraft, missile systems, and naval vessels over the past two decades.
Even more troubling, the disaster occurred only weeks after Bangladesh moved closer to negotiations with Beijing over a massive new purchase of Chinese J-10CE fighter jets and attack helicopters.
This is also not the first deadly accident involving Chinese military equipment operated by Bangladesh.
In July 2025, a Chinese-made F-7BGI fighter jet operated by the Bangladesh Air Force crashed into a school campus in Dhaka during a training flight, killing dozens of people, most of them children, and injuring scores more.
Now, two more Bangladeshi servicemen are dead following the catastrophic explosion of a Chinese-origin tank during what should have been a routine military exercise.
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