Tuesday's explosion at a seven-storey building in Dhaka's Gulistan has so far claimed the lives of 17 people, and on the instructions of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, their families have been given Tk50,000 in compensation.
Additional District Magistrate AKM Hedaitul Islam gave this information to reporters in front of the emergency department of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) on Wednesday morning.
The office of the deputy commissioner will compensate seriously injured people with Tk25,000 and those under treatment with Tk15,000. However, financial assistance will be given based on the doctor's recommendation, he said.
AKM Hedaitul Islam said a team from the deputy commissioner's office went to the spot after learning about the explosion.
“We opened our control centre before the emergency department of DMCH on Tuesday night. We have handed over the bodies of 16 people to their families. At the direction of the prime minister and under the supervision of the office of the deputy commissioner, the families of the deceased have been given Tk50,000 for now,” he said.
“After verifying the information of the injured, they will also be compensated,” he added.
AKM Hedaitul Islam further said: “As per our latest information, 10-11 people are at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery and 15-16 people are undergoing treatment at DMCH. No one has been admitted here since Tuesday night.”
“We received reports of five people being missing. Later, we came to know that one of them is admitted at Birdem's ICU and another is under treatment in Savar,” he added.
The three missing now are Mehedi Hasan Swapan, Imtiaz Mohammad Bhuiyan (Salim) and Robin Hossain.
Those killed the explosion were Mominul Islam, 38, his wife Nodi Begum, 36, Md Suman, 21, Ishak Mridha, 35, Mansur Hossain, 40, Md Ismail, 42, Alamin, 23, Rahat, 18, Mainuddin, 50, Nazmul Hossain, 25, Obaidul Hasan Babul, 55, Abu Zafar Siddique, 34, Akriti Begum, 70, Md Idris Mir, 60, Hridoy, 20, Nurul Islam Bhuiyan, 55, and Md Siam, 19.
Officials fear the death toll will likely increase as many of those rescued are critically injured.
Meanwhile, the Fire Service has formed a four-member committee to investigate the explosion. The committee was asked to submit a report within five working days.
Though the Fire Service resumed its rescue and recovery efforts for a second day on Wednesday morning, the work is moving slowly because of the risky condition of the building.
A national committee comprising the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk), the army and specialized agencies has been formed.
The rescue operations will be started at full scale as per the advice of the experts of the committee.