The official death toll from the Bangladesh Air Force fighter jet crash at Milestone School and College has been revised down to 33 after identification, according to an update from the health ministry issued at 4pm on Sunday.
The revision followed two updates issued within a span of six and a half hours, with the first one released at 10am on the same day.
The 10am update revised down the toll by one to 34 after the authorities identified 14 bodies from the 15 body bags sent to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka.
The ministry clarified the reduction in the update.
According to the CMH in Dhaka, its mortuary received 15 body bags on July 21. Turag police initially conducted inquests on 11 full bodies, two incomplete bodies, and the body parts of five individuals.
Of the 11 full bodies, nine were identified by family members.
On the same day, Turag police handed over eight identified bodies to the claimants and transferred the rest on July 22.
The remaining two full bodies, two incomplete bodies, and the body parts of five others were submitted for DNA testing by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) forensic team on July 22.
Based on DNA results, the CID confirmed the identities of five more individuals. The bodies were handed over to the respective families on the night of July 24. The detailed verification and forensic process led to a correction in the initial death count. But in the 4pm update on Sunday, the health ministry clarified that one of the victims had been mistakenly reported twice - once by Lubana Hospital as an unidentified deceased person and again by United Hospital as a deceased patient.
As a result, the final confirmed death toll now stands at 33.
Meanwhile, 48 people injured in the tragic incident continue to receive treatment in various hospitals across Dhaka.
On July 21, the aircraft crashed into a building on the Milestone School and College campus in the capital's Diabari, becoming the deadliest military aviation accident in the country's history.
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