Families and relatives broke into tears and demanded speedy justice as 24 charred bodies of Narayanganj Hashem Foods factory fire were handed over to their family members on Wednesday, four weeks after the incident.
Families of 24 victims received the remains at Dhaka Medical College morgue in the afternoon.
The family members said that they feared they would not even get a chance to bury the bodies of their loved ones. It is a relief that at least they would be able to bury the bodies and visit graveyards, many of them commented.
Remains of 21 more identified victims would be handed over to their families on Saturday from the DMCH morgue, said Jiban Kanti Sarker, the additional police superintendent of the Criminal Investigation Department in Narayanganj.
CID’s forensic wing confirmed the identities of 45 victims following the DNA tests and handed over the list to its Narayanganj office.
CID officer Jiban Kanti said that the 24 bodies kept at the DMCH morgue were handed over on Wednesday while the rest were kept at Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital morgue and the DMCH mortuary.
The 24 deceased, whose bodies have been handed over to their families, are Ayat Hossain, Nayeem Islam, Nusrat Jahan Tuktuki, Hima Akter, Sagorika Saila, Khadeja Akter, Mohammad Ali, Takiya Akter, Shahana Akter, Mitu Akter, Jahanara, Farzana, Fatema Akter, Nazma Khatun, Ishrat Jahan Tuli, Nazma Begum, Rashed, Rakib Hossain, Firoza, Tarek Zia, Ripon Mia, Shahana Akter, Munna and Riya Akter.
Of them, at least 10 are teenagers, said CID officials.
SM Mahfuzur Rahman, the additional deputy commissioner of Narayanganj district administration, said the district admirations and Hashem Foods factory authorities provided ambulances for carrying bodies and gave Tk 25,000 to each victim’s family for burial.
A devastating fire broke out on the six-storey building of Hashem Foods on July 8 leaving at least 51 dead. It took over a day for the fire service to douse the flame.
Out of at least 51 workers who died, 48 were trapped on the third floor with its only exit locked while three others died after jumping off the food processing factory.
The police arrested eight people, including Sajeeb Group chairman Md Abul Hashem, his sons and associates.
Five of the arrested people, including the owner Hashem, are now out on bail and three others are in jail.
A heartrending scene unfolded at DMCH morgue premises where the family members in tears were waiting since morning for the remains of their loved ones.
They were informed about the handing over of the bodies by the CID on Tuesday afternoon.
The families said that they have come to the DMCH morgue by rickshaw-vans, pickup vans and even on foot during the restrictions.
The handover of the bodies began around 1:45pm in presence of the representatives from Narayanganj district administration and the CID.
On the day the factory caught fire, Riya Akter, 23, was working as an assistant supervisor in the second floor of the six-storey building for months.
They were not much to be done on her floor and she was asked to perform duties on the third floor since 2:00pm on that day, said Riya’s sister Jhinuk Akter.
The fire broke out around two and half hours after Riya went to the third floor and got trapped with other workers and died.
Jhinuk feared that they might not get justice as the accused are powerful people and they easily secured bails.
Riya’s body was taken to Shibpur of Narsingdi for burial.
Nazma Begum and her teenage son Nazmul had been working in the factory for the past one year.
Nazmul went home after his duty while 35-year-old Nazma, working in a juice factory on the third floor, got trapped and killed in the fire.
‘Initially, my mother was in the list of the missing victims, but now she is among the deaths,’ said Nazmul.
Nazma’s sister Momtaz Begum said that they feared that they might not even get the chance for burial, but it is a relief to some extent that the body was at last identified.
Kazi Abdur Rahman, senior general manager of Sajeeb Group, said that they provided Tk 2 lakh to each victim’s family and the costs for carrying the bodies and funerals are also being covered by the group.
