Death toll in Bangladesh building collapse at 194
With deep cracks visible in the walls, police had ordered a
Bangladesh garment building evacuated the day before its deadly
collapse, but the factories flouted the order and kept more than 2,000
people working, officials said Thursday. At least 194 people died when a
huge section of the eight-story building splintered into a pile of
concrete.
The disaster in the Dhaka suburb of Savar came less than five months
after a blaze killed 112 people in a garment factory and underscored the
unsafe conditions faced by Bangladesh's garment workers, who produce
clothes for brands worn around the world. Some of the companies in the
building that fell say their customers include retail giants.
Hundreds of rescuers, some crawling through the maze of rubble in
search of survivors and corpses, worked through the night and into
Thursday amid the cries of the trapped and the wails of workers'
relatives gathered outside the building, called Rana Plaza, which housed
numerous garment factories and a handful of other companies.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association had
also asked the factories to suspend work starting Wednesday morning,
hours before the collapse.
"After we got the crack reports, we asked them to suspend work until
further examination, but they did not pay heed," said Atiqul Islam, the
group's president.
On Thursday morning, the odor of rotting bodies wafted through holes
cut into the building. Junior minister for Home Affairs, Shamsul Haque,
said that by late Thursday morning a total of 2,000 people had been
rescued from the wreckage.
Brig. Gen. Mohammed Siddiqul Alam Shikder, who is overseeing army
rescue teams, said the death toll had climbed to 194 as of Thursday
afternoon. AP |