Staff Reporter :
12 firefighters went missing after an explosion at a BM container depot in Chittagong’s Sitakunda. The bodies of nine of them were recovered and identified. Gausul Azam, a firefighter, died of burns in a blast on Saturday (June 11) night. The death toll in the Sitakunda blast thus rose to 48.
According to a fire service source, eight days have passed since the incident but three workers are still missing. All three are taken to have died.
However, their bodies have not been identified yet.
Missing three firefighters have been identified as Md. Rabiul Islam, Fariduzzaman and Shafiul Islam. Rabiul’s home is in Naogaon district. He was working at Sitakunda fire station. Fariduzzaman’s house is in Mithapukur, Rangpur. He was also working at Sitakunda fire station. Shafiul’s home is in Sirajganj. He was working at Kumira Fire Station. Asked about this, Shahjahan Sikder, Officer-in-Charge of the media wing of the Fire Service and Civil Defense, said, “We have not yet found three employees.” They are missing. They might have been dead.
He said the bodies of some people were recovered from the spot, their bodies were burnt and mutilated. The total human bodies of an individual was not found. It is not possible to identify them without DNA testing. DNA tests should be done to be sure if there are three missing persons from the fire service.
Besides, the condition of the two injured of the fire service was serious. They were brought from Chittagong CMH to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka for advanced treatment. Four of the injured have recovered and returned home. Nine people are still under treatment. One died yesterday morning, he said.
