Old Dhaka fire death toll: Probe body to make correction in final report

Though different media outlets from home and abroad reported different death tolls in the Old Dhaka fire creating a confusion, Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence (BFSCD) says it is 67.

The death toll ranging between at least 70 and 81 was reported at first but that number was later corrected at 67.

BFSCD director (operations and maintenance) Major AKM Shakil Newaz said, “Though it was said that we recovered 70 bodies but later, after matching all body parts, we found the number at 67.”

Head of Forensics Department at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital Sohel Mahmud said they told the media that the death toll was 78 because "we mistakenly counted the dead bodies, including those 11 that were already in the hospital morgue".

In fact, it is a total of 67 dead bodies that had been brought to the hospital from the Old Dhaka fire scene, he said.

A day after the fire, on Thursday, the industries ministry formed 12-member committee to find out the cause of the fire, extent of losses and make recommendations to prevent further occurrence of such incident.

In its 24 hours, the body, which additional secretary M Mofizul Haque is heading as its convenor, submitted a report that also mentioned the death toll at 78. Newspapers, however, were able to correct it in their second or city editions.

Asked about this figure, Haque said they took the death figure from the hospital authorities who might have made a mistake by counting some bodies more than once. "However, we will give a correction about the death toll in the final report."