67 burnt bodies taken to Dhaka hospital morgue

The Dhaka Medical College Hospital authorities have confirmed that 67 bodies from the fire at Old Dhaka’s Chawkbazar have been taken to the hospital’s morgue

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The friends and families of the missing and the dead are crowding the hospital in search of their loved ones.

DMCH’s Head of Forensic Medicine Prof Shohel Mahmood said the bodies would be handed over to the families once they were autopsied and identified.

The fire service and civil defence said it had recovered the bodies of 70 victims of the massive fire that broke out near the Shahi Mosque in Chawkbazar on Wednesday night and sent them to DMCH.

“Thus far we have received 67 bodies,” Prof Shohel Mahmood told bdnews24.com at 10:45am.

Asked about the discrepancy in the number, Fire Service Deputy Assistant Director Tarek Hassan Bhuiyan told bdnews24.com: “By our count there were 70 bodies.”

Asked when the bodies would be turned over to the families, Prof Mahmood said: “We will conduct post-mortem examinations on those bodies that can be identified when we receive the initial post-mortem reports and the autopsy order from police.”

Asked what would be done with the bodies that were burnt beyond recognition, he said: “We will take samples from those bodies that cannot be identified and conduct DNA tests and attempt to match them with the relatives.”

Over 500 friends and family members of the missing and the dead are waiting outside the morgue. Many want to take the bodies without an autopsy.

“That is up to the police, not me,” Prof Mahmood said when asked if it was possible.