The Fire Service and Civil Defence has found parts of human remains in the basement of the Queen Sanitary Market in Gulistan’s Siddique Bazar.
The human remains were found on the front side of the basements, Anwarul Haque, vice-principle of the Fire Service Training Complex, told the newspersons.
He said, “The members of the rescue team have entered the basement. We suspect that more victims could be found here.”
“The rescue team has reached the exact spot (a sanitary shop in the basement), where the victim used to work according to the family members. There are human remains there. However, the victim’s identity could not be confirmed immediately,” the fire service official added.
Anwarul Haque further said, “The rescue operation resumed today at 8:30 am. There was a lot of accumulated water in the basement of the building. So we had to remove the water before starting the operation today. Later, we started removing water using pumps. We are trying to carefully remove the small objects first. The rescue team is removing objects manually as we cannot use heavy machinery in the basement of the building in such a vulnerable condition.”
“The main problem here is that there are supply lines for the WASA in the basement. The water is accumulating there due to a leak in the supply line caused by the explosion. I have informed WASA. They will be here at any time,” he added.
The members of the Fire Service and Civil Defence resumed the rescue operation at the Queen Sanitary Market in Gulistan’s Siddique Bazar for the third day without using any heavy machinery at 8.30 am in the morning.
They started removing the accumulated water in the basement of the seven-storey building from 8:30 am on Thursday.
The fire service members couldn’t finish the rescue drive as of Wednesday after the explosion on Tuesday as the fire service does not have the special equipment called shoring, which is needed to conduct a rescue operation in the basement of a vulnerable building like the Queen Sanitary Market.
The rescue team is using buckets to remove water and debris from the basement. Earlier on Tuesday, the Queen Sanitary Market in Gulistan’s Siddique Bazar was heavily damaged after a sudden explosion in the seven-storied market at around 4:45 pm. Two other buildings near the market were also heavily damaged by the explosion. The first and second floor and the basement of the building collapsed in the explosion. As many as 21 people have died in the explosion so far.