Maj Gen Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardy urged people to not give in to rumours that the authority is hiding the actual number of dead bodies from the Savar building collapse.
Maj Gen Sarwardy, General Commanding Officer (GOC) of the 9th Infantry Division of the army, leading the ongoing second phase rescue efforts at Savar, made the call at a press briefing in front of the army control room Thursday morning.
Labelling the rumours as “disappointing”, Maj Gen Sarwardy reaffirmed that rescue efforts will be on till the last body is recovered.
He said there was no chance of leaving any dead bodies under the rubble because they were using advanced equipment like special censors, cameras and heavy machines. Dog squads had also been made operative at the site, he added.
However, he could not tell exactly how long the operations would continue.
Maj Gen Sarwardy said six more bodies had been pulled out of the rubble on Thursday, taking the death toll to 429.
He also told reporters that the army staff had donated one day’s salary amounting to Tk75m to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund.
Meanwhile, executive magistrate Iqbal Hossain of the Dhaka district administration told Dhaka Tribune that the death toll from the tragic collapse had reached 436 after seven people died in various hospitals.
He said 379 bodies have so far been handed over to families and relatives while 32 unidentified bodies were buried at the capital’s Jurain graveyard.
He also said four unidentified bodies have been kept in the Dhaka Medical College and Mitford hospitals while 16 others are being kept at Adhar Chandra School in Savar.