Death toll goes up to 50

The death toll from the Jhalakathi launch inferno rose to 50 with another victim succumbing to her injuries at Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery in Dhaka on Tuesday night, reports UNB.

The deceased was identified as Manika Rani Haldar sustained 30 per cent of burns in the fire.

Manika, an assistant teacher of Gagan Memorial High School, was on life support in the intensive care unit of Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery and breathed her last there at around 9.30pm, said resident surgeon SM Ayub Hossain.

A massive fire broke out on a Barguna-bound launch carrying some 800 passengers from Dhaka, off the coast of Jhalakathi on 24 December.

On December 26, the chief inspector of the department of shipping, Shafiqur Rahman, filed a case against eight people, including four co-owners of the launch, under the Marine Act in the Marine Court.