The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of police, following DNA testing, has identified Rehnuma Tabassum Dola as one of the victims of last month’s devastating fire in Old Dhaka’s Chawkbazar.
Dola and her friend Fatema-Tuz-Zohra Brishti were reported missing after the February 20 fire incident in Churihatta area, which left dozens of people dead and scores of others injured.
Brishti’s body was identified last week through DNA testing at the CID’s forensic lab. After her remains were handed over to her family, she was buried at Azimpur Graveyard.
According to their families, the two friends had gone to Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on February 20. On their way home, their phones were last seen active in Chawkbazar area before they went missing around the time the fire started that night.
After the massive fire was doused 15 hours later, Dhaka District Administration officials had said that 67 people were killed in the flames that ravaged through several multi-storey buildings along Nanda Kumar Lane at Churihatta.
Four others later succumbed to their injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
File photo of Fatema-Tuz-Zohra Brishti, left, and Rehnuma Tabassum Dola, who perished in the February 20 Chawkbazar fire | Photo collected from FacebookHowever, CID’s forensic department officials have said that the final death toll was 70, as 66 people were killed in the spot during the fire.
They said parts of the body of one of the deceased were counted as parts of a different victim. Later, DNA testing confirmed that the parts belonged to one victim.
Apart from Dola, CID on Tuesday also identified the bodies of four more victims of the Chawkabazar fire, Additional Inspector General of Police Sheikh Hemayet Hossain told a press briefing at the CID office in city’s Malibagh area.
They are Hazi Ismail, Foysal Sarwar, Mostafa, and Md Jafar, according to CID officials.
Four of their bodies, including Dola’s, were handed over to their families later in the day.
With this, total 16 bodies have been identified through DNA testing. However, two more bodies are yet to be identified, as their DNA samples are yet to match.
Hemayet Hossain said: “We still have DNA samples from two bodies and three families. But these samples have not been matched.”
“The bodies will be kept at the morgue for now. If anyone comes forward with a fresh claim, we will collect his/her DNA sample and cross-check with the bodies again.”
He added: “We have made the DNA matching process and identifying the victims our top priority.”
On March 6, the CID had identified 11 bodies of the Chawkbazar fire victims, including Brishti’s.
The others were Nasrin Jahan, her husband Saleh Ahmed Nipu, Tanzil Hasan Rohan, Nuruzzaman, Ahsanullah, Md Shahin, Enamul Haque, Dulal Karmakar, Ibrahim, and Shahin Ahmed.
Previously, on February 23, CID collected 32 DNA samples from the relatives of possible victims to cross-check against 19 bodies.