The death toll from the Rana Plaza collapse has risen to 1117 with the recovery of 66 more bodies on Saturday, the 18th day since the incident.
The bodies, mostly decomposed, were taken to Adhar Chandra High School field to be identified by relatives.
26 bodies were still on school grounds last evening, with 811 bodies claimed, and handed over to relatives.
Rescuers believe more bodies are trapped beneath the rubble because a number of people are still missing.
Rana Plaza, where five garment factories were located, collapsed after factory owners forced several thousand workers to return to work in the building, although cracks had developed in pillars and floors on the day before the disaster.
79 unidentified bodies have so far been buried in Jurain graveyard, after DNA samples were collected so as to allow for post-burial identification.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, Col Ibne Fazal Shayekhuzzaman said they would start lifting slabs from the basement soon.
“We hope to end the operation within the 15th of this month,” he said.
Meanwhile, Maj Gen Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, GOC of the 9th Infantry Division, and in charge of the rescue effort, briefed journalists at Savar Cantonment on the on-going operations yesterday afternoon.
He said rescue efforts involving heavy equipment were done with care; bearing in mind there were bodies and respecting all religious sentiments.
“We will search for the last body under the debris and you [journalists] can also follow us. When we are sure that no more bodies remain, we will wrap up. After that removal of remaining debris will start,” he said.
“We think nobody can raise any questions about missing persons, if everything is done in this manner,” he said.
“We normally stop using heavy equipment after finding a corpse and the body is recovered manually,” he stated.
“Last night, two decapitated bodies were recovered, but rescuers found only a single head. One of our lieutenants asked me what he should do, which body did the head belong to. These types of incidents are occurring,” he said, giving an example of the state of the bodies being discovered.
“Badly decomposed bodies, almost skeletons with rotting flesh are being found under the debris and the rescuers are dealing with each body with due respect.”
He added: “Our soldiers are searching through these decomposed bodies with their own hands for ID cards and telephones.”
The GOC said: “This would not be possible if we used just machines. Machines do not have hearts, but people do. We treat the victims as our family. So trust us.”
Meanwhile, an army official seeking anonymity said a list of civil rescuers and organisations is being collated. “Those people listed will be called upon for assistance in case of any disasters in the future,” he said.
Hope that more people would be found alive was revived among rescuers after the rescue of Reshma on Friday afternoon, 17 days after the building collapse.
Including Reshma, a total of 2,438 people have been rescued so far, according to sources at the army control room.
