The number of people who died at Savar’s Rana Plaza collapse climbed to 967 on Thursday.
A total of 149 dead bodies were retrieved from the ruins on the 16th day of the rescue operation, from the first hours of the day until 6:30pm in the evening.
The makeshift camp in front of the fallen structure released the latest death count on Thursday.
As many as 698 bodies have been handed over to relatives ever since the collapse on Apr 24.
Meanwhile, 76 dead bodies have been laid to rest at Jurain Graveyard with the help of Anjuman Mofidul Islam in two phases from noon to nightfall on Thursday.
DNA samples were collected from these unclaimed bodies before they were given to Anjuman from the morgues at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital and Sir Salimullah Medical College and Hospital, District Administrator Mohammad Yusuf Harun has said.
He said Anjuman so far have buried 80 bodies and 16 alone on Tuesday.
The Dhaka district administration’s control room at Adhar Chandra High School said still 75 dead bodies were kept on the school’s playground. There are 38 bodies at the Dhaka Medical College Morgue.
A total of 156 victims have been buried at Jurain Graveyard so far.
Rana Plaza collapsed on Apr 24 with around 5000 employees who used to work for the five readymade garment factories in the hazardous building.
Rescuers were able to remove the debris from the front of the fallen nine-storey structure. Rescue operations at the back of the building began on last Wednesday night. The debris from even one of the storeys could not be removed from there.
The rescue operation might take a few more days, according to Fire Brigade officials.
Most of the bodies being recovered are mangled. The dead are now being identified through ID cards or cell phones if they are found with the body.
With the death toll in the Rana Plaza tragedy climbing over the past days, the number of unidentified bodies has mounted as those trapped in the rubble have decomposed beyond identification.
Sixteen days into the incident, district administration officials said that the job of handing over the bodies is becoming increasingly difficult, as it needed to be confirmed that the bodies were going to the right families. Now, ID cards and mobile phones have become tools for identification.
Some bodies are too decomposed to even determine sex and these can only be identified byDNA tests. As a result many families, who were waiting at Adhar Chandra High School’s field,had to leave without their relatives’ body.
According to district administration officials, 98 bodies were kept at the field for identification while around 100 bodies were heldat Dhaka Medical College and Mitford Hospital’s morgue.
“The bodies coming to the field are difficult to recognise. Even relatives are getting confused identifying their loved ones,” said Akhtaruzzaman Bhuiyan Shahin, a Rover Scout leader whose team was assisting the administration in the identification procedure.
Kamrul Hassan, UNO of Savar upazila said: “On some occasions, relatives claim bodies from the victim’s clothes, physical shape or ornaments. But the administration cannot handover bodies depending on these, as they might be common.”
Talking to the Dhaka tribune a number of relatives also expressed the same view.
“I am confused. Everything (salwar and kameez) except the scarf on one of the bodies’ matched my wife’s. Maybe the rescuers wrapped her with another person’s scarf while pulling her out of the rubble,” said Md Fazlur Miah, husband of Parvin Begum, who worked on the third floor of the collapsed Rana Plaza.
A civil rescuer, Zia Uddin, said that they are now finding a huge number of bones and flesh.
“We gather the scattered body parts and try to give them shape. In some cases we just collect them from different places and put them in body-bags and send it to Adhar Chandra field,” he said.
Like previous days, yesterday many people with photographs and ID cards of missing workers were still waiting at the Adhar Chandra High School playground for the remains.
Friday 10 May 2013
http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/05/09/savar-death-toll-rises-to-967
http://dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/may/10/authorities-families-face-difficulty-identifying-victims
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