The district administration on Tuesday revised the death toll from Sitakunda container depot fire to 41 down from the earlier confirmed figure of 50.
Deputy Commissioner of Chattogram Mominur Rahman said the actual death toll from the BM container depot fire was 41 after a recount of the bodies kept at Chattogram Medical College and Hospital.
He said the earlier toll was an outcome of counting some of the bodies twice at different hospitals.
Brig. General Shamim Ahsan, director of Chattogram Medical College and Hospital said “We have got 41 bodies and the authorities concerned have conducted the autopsy of 18 on Sunday.”
The identities of 24 people were confirmed, he said adding nine of them were firefighters. So far, 21 bodies were handed over to the families.
The firefighters were still trying to completely extinguish the fire until 7:30 pm on Monday, 46 hours after the disaster.
A team of Bangladesh Army is still working to bring the fire under control and prevent the spread of chemical in the area.
According to fire service sources, the container depot contained a large quantity of chemicals called ‘hydrogen peroxide’. Hydrogen peroxide is a chemical compound and it acts like explosives at high temperature.
The fire broke out at the BM Container Depot on Saturday at Sonachhari in Sitakunda upazila. Explosions were also occurred during the fire.
Over 200 people suffered injuries.
Around 130 people are undergoing treatment at the burn unit of CMCH, said Anisur Rahman, deputy director of Fire Service and Civil Defense.
Source: United News of Bangladesh