Gulistan blast: Two more bodies recovered; death toll now 19

Rescuers pulled out two more bodies from under the rubble of the collapsed seven-storey building in the capital's Gulistan area, taking the death toll to 19.

The bodies were taken to Dhaka Medical College morgue Wednesday afternoon.

Relatives have identified the bodies as shop owner Momin Uddin Sumon and shop staff Md Robin Hossain.

"We have handed over 16 bodies to their families yesterday. Another body was reportedly taken away by the relatives from the morgue. Two more bodies were handed over today," Mohammad Mominur Rahman, deputy commissioner of Dhaka, said in a media briefing on Wednesday evening. 

The official death toll is 19 so far, he said. 

He said that the district administration opened a control room in front of the emergency unit of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

The district administration provided Tk50,000 each to the families of those who died in the incident. While the seriously injured were given Tk25,000 each and minor injured people were given Tk10,000-Tk15,000 each.

The DC also informed that 10 injured are currently undergoing treatment at DMC while 12 are at the burn unit.

He said three people are still missing.

The rescue operation ended for today and it will resume tomorrow.

Emergency workers and rescue teams resumed their operations for the second day at the seven-storey building this morning.

A total of 11 firefighting units worked at the scene Wednesday. Members of the Bangladesh Army have joined today's rescue efforts as well.  

Meanwhile, authorities are still in the dark about the origin of the explosion. Two probe bodies have been formed to identify the cause of the blast.

Rescue operations ended before Tuesday midnight. Due to the risky state of the building, it was not possible to go into the basement, the fire service told the media.

Meanwhile, three committees have been formed to investigate the explosion. Fire Service and Civil Defence has formed a four-member inquiry committee which will lodge a report within the next five working days. A national committee consisting of experts from Rajuk, City Corporation, Titas, WASA, and the Bangladesh Army has been formed to conduct an extensive probe into the incident. The Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) formed a six-member committee.

The committee formed by Rajuk visited the blast-hit building on Wednesday night, said Rajuk zone-5 director Md Hamidul Islam.