It will take at least three weeks to identify the victims of the Hashem Foods factory in Narayanganj’s Rupganj by conducting DNA tests.
The forensic unit of the police’s Criminal Investigation Department will conduct the tests.
Romana Aktar, special superintendent of police at CID, said at Dhaka Medical College Hospital on Friday they will collect samples from bones and teeth of the victims, and match the DNA with samples from relatives of the workers.
“It will take at least 21 days to complete the tests,” she said.
The police will hand the remains to the families after the identification, reports bdnews24.com.
The authorities confirmed the death of three workers on Thursday night, hours after the fire erupted.
The firefighters found at least 49 bodies on Friday afternoon. Flames were still burning at some places inside the six-storey building on Friday night.
The rescuers put the remains of the 49 victims in 48 bags.
They were burnt beyond recognition. Later, the authorities decided to conduct the DNA tests to identify them.
One of the bags contained the remains of two workers, said Saleh Uddin Ahmed, senior assistant superintendent of police.
“We’ve made the inquest reports considering one body per bag. If the remains in one bag are proved to be of two people in tests, the count will change,” he said.
Shah Zaman, OC of Narayanganj Sadar Police Station, said 11 sub-inspectors made the inquest reports before post-mortem examination.
CID Assistant DNA System Analyst Nusrat Yasmin said they have collected samples from the relatives of 18 missing workers. The sample collection will resume on Saturday.