Home ›› 09 Mar 2023 ›› Front
Another body was recovered from under the debris of a damaged building in Gulistan's Siddique Bazar area while another hospitalised injured died while undergoing treatment on Thursday, two days after a deadly explosion ripped through its several floors, raising the death toll to 22.
Meanwhile, on the same day, the Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) arrested three people, including the two owners of that building, over the incident.
They are building owners Wahidur Rahman, 46, and Motiur Rahman, 36. The third arrestee is Motaleb Mintu, 45, who owned a shop in the building’s basement, DMP DB chief Harun-Or-Rashid told a press briefing.
Detectives had picked up the trio for questioning on Wednesday. They were shown arrested under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure on Thursday. Later in the day, a Dhaka court granted police two days to grill each of them.
Harun said the building is locally known as Queen Sanitary Market. The basement and first floor were completed in 1992 based on a plan to construct a 10-storey building. The now-closed Cafe Queen was on the first floor and its kitchen was in the basement.
In 2004, the owners built seven more floors, and at that time, the gas connection used in the cafe was surrendered to Titas, he said. But the gas line of the entire building was not shut off and there was an issue of leakage.
Apart from that, the building was not built in line with the Bangladesh National Building Code. The basement was supposed to have car packing, a septic tank and a water reserve tank. But the basement was rented out in 2010, Harun said.
“We think the building owners and tenants were negligent. They cannot avoid the responsibility for the death of 21 people. That’s why they were arrested after interrogation,” he added.
Fire Service and Civil Defence’s Deputy Director (Dhaka) Dinomoni Sharma said that they recovered another dead body from the scene at around 12:20pm Thursday after the rescue operation resumed for the third day.
The deceased was identified as Mehedi Hasan Swapan, 40, manager of a sanitary shop, from Noakhali, who was missing since the incident on March 7.
The body was later taken to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DHMC), where Swapan's brother Tanveer Hasan identified the body.
Work to stabilise building underway
Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) Member (Development) Major (retd) Shamsuddin Ahmed Chowdhury, who is also the convener of the technical committee formed by RAJUK to decide the damaged building’s fate, visited the site with his team on Thursday.
He told reporters that the severely damaged columns on the ground and first floors are not stable enough now to bear the building’s load.
First, steps will be taken to provide the columns with enough support to carry the load. Then, further steps will be taken to find out whether the building will be reopened for use or demolished, he said.
Shamsuddin said that nine out of the building’s 24 columns were damaged. Rod connections of many of the nine columns have been separated but the columns on the upper floors are fine.
Asked how long it would take to stabilise the building, he said they started working on Thursday and it will be done soon hopefully.
When asked whether RAJUK will be able to do this work or a third party will be needed, Shamsuddin said it would take time to find a suitable third party.
“Since many vehicles will use this road every day, vibrations will further destabilise the building. That’s why RAJUK has decided to do this quickly on its own,” he added.
However, he could not say either whether the building was built legally or illegally. He said they were still looking for the related documents.
Medical boards for injured
Until now, 15 people injured in the explosion have been admitted at DMCH. The condition of 14 of them is improving while the other patient, named Rajan, is still in ICU, DMCH Director Brig Gen Md Nazmul Haque told reporters on Thursday.
“Rajan underwent surgery on Wednesday. He is not out of danger yet. We have formed a medical board to treat the victims,” he added.
Since the incident, DMCH received 19 dead bodies and provided treatment to 172 other injured, said the director.
Meanwhile, 10 other injured were admitted to Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in critical condition after the blast.
One of them, identified as Musa Haider, succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday night, confirmed the institute’s Chief Coordinator Dr Samanta Lal Sen on Thursday.
Another injured, identified as Yasin Arafat, who was on life support with 55 per cent burns, passed away at around 8pm Thursday, he said.
Dr Sen told reporters that they are treating eight people now and two of them are in ICU. One of the two is on life support.
The institute has also formed a 20-member medical board to treat these patients, he said.
