As it is not clear whether 37-year-old Mehedhi Hasan Swapon is still alive or dead after over 24 hours of the massive blast in the capital’s Siddique Bazar that left 19 dead, uncertainty grips his family members including wife about having him back —alive or dead.

However, the rescue operation at the explosion site has not ended yet as at least one man has remained missing, said Deputy Director of Fire Service and Civil Defense Dinmoni Sharma.

Though two dead bodies were rescued in the afternoon, one is still missing, said the officer adding that the operation will be continued as long as we have one missing person.

Abdul Mannan, maternal uncle of his wife who rushed to the spot from Chattogram on Tuesday night soon after hearing the news of the terrible blast, said that they are yet to know whether Swapon is alive or dead.

“We want at least his body to be buried if he died in the blast,” he said.

He used to work as a manager at Bangladesh Sanitary housing in a 5-storey building that was badly damaged in the massive blast in the capital’s Gulistan area.

Swapon’s wife went to her maternal uncle’s house in Chattogram two days ago and is now apparently mute when she came to know about the blast, Mannan said.

“I asked Swapon to come with his wife but he didn’t go due to job,” the uncle said, adding that his niece used to lead a happy life with Swapon since their marriage.

“I came here to request the rescuers to hand over his body (Swapon) to them after recovering from the debris of the building once he died,” said the uncle.

Earlier, a massive explosion occurred on Tuesday with a big bang at Siddique Bazar.

A total of 19 people died in the explosion.

A sanitary materials shop on the ground floor of the building, Brac Bank office on one of the other floors and an adjacent 7-storey building were damaged because of the impact of the blast.