Sitakunda Depot Death Toll Revised Down to 41

The district administration and the health authorities in Chattogram have revised the death toll in the BM Container Depot fire in Sitakunda, lowering it to 41.

“Some dead bodies were taken to the morgue of Chattogram General Hospital and were counted there once. The same bodies were counted again at the Chattogram Medical College Hospital. This error pushed the death toll up to 49," said Chattogram Deputy Commissioner Md Mominur Rahman.

“Later, all of the bodies were brought to Chattogram Medical College Hospital. As of now, 41 dead bodies have been found."

Any other bodies found in the fire would be brought to the CMCH, the deputy commissioner said.

Around 9 pm on Saturday, a devastating fire started at the privately-run BM Container Depot situated at Keshabpur village in Sitakunda. As the depot had some chemical containers, multiple blasts occurred and the blaze could not be tamed despite continuous efforts throughout Sunday.

Once the flames were doused to a certain extent, the rescuers began to pull out dead bodies. The death toll kept on rising and finally reached 41 on Sunday evening.

But the information provided by the district administration and the civil surgeon’s office to the media showed discrepancies in the death toll. 

Chattogram Medical College Hospital, district administration and the civil surgeon’s office provided three different figures for the death toll.

The hospital authorities and the police on duty at the hospital have always reported 41 dead bodies in their custody. But the district administration mentioned the figure to be 45 on Sunday night, while the civil surgeon’s office changed the death toll quite a few times.

At around 10 pm on Sunday, the civil surgeon’s office posted the number of dead in Sitakunda fire as 49 on their Facebook page. Then they amended it twice as 45 and 46. When the journalists called the control room of the civil surgeon’s office at 11:20 pm, authorities confirmed the figure as 49.

On the other hand, Chattogram Assistant Commissioner Plaban Kumar Biswas said they received the information about the death of 49 people, including 9 firefighters.

The error became evident on Monday while handing over the dead bodies. The CMCH authorities said they had only received 41 bodies. The district administration said they issued death certificates for 41 people and the civil surgeon’s office said the information from the hospital should be followed.

“We have received 41 bodies and completed the autopsies of 18 of them. We’re now handing over the bodies of those identified,” Brig Gen Md Shamim Ahsan, director of CMCH told the journalists on Monday.

“We found 9 firefighters dead and some other firefighters are still missing. Two firemen are undergoing treatment in Dhaka and three at the Combined Military Hospital in Chattogram.”

As many as 210 victims of the Sitakunda fire have received treatment at CMCH, said Shamim Ahsan.

“At least 155 of them were admitted to the hospital. Some of them have since been discharged, while 102 remain admitted. CMH has 14 victims undergoing treatment there and the Chattogram General Hospital has 2 victims. The private hospitals are providing treatment to 11 patients.”

When asked, Civil Surgeon Md Iliyas Chowdhury said the death toll stands at 41. “Yesterday some of the bodies were counted twice and the death toll, therefore, was reported as 49. In fact, the figure is 41,” he said.

He suggested the media follow only the information provided by the hospital director.

Deputy Commissioner Mominur Rahman said all the dead bodies will be brought to the morgue for an autopsy. “In case of failure to identify the dead, a DNA sample will be collected. The bodies will only be handed over to the families from the morgue after they are identified,” he said.