Bangladesh collapse search over after 1,127 died
Source: Agencies |
May 14, 2013, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
NEARLY three weeks after a Bangladesh garment-factory building collapsed, the search for the dead ended yesterday at the site of the worst disaster in the history of the global garment industry. The death toll hit 1,127.
Mohammed Amir Hossain Mazumder, deputy director of fire service and civil defense, said search for bodies from the April 24 collapse was called off at 6pm. Bulldozers and other vehicles have been removed from the building site, which will be fenced with bamboo sticks. Red flags have been erected around the site to bar entry.
The last body was found on Sunday night. A special prayer service will be held today to honor the dead.
For more than 19 days Rana Plaza had been the scene of frantic rescue efforts, anguished families and the overwhelming smell of decaying flesh.
Miracles were few, but last Friday, search teams found Reshma Begum, a seamstress who survived under the rubble for 17 days on dried food and bottled and rain water.
Begum spoke to reporters yesterday from the hospital where she is being treated in a Dhaka suburb. She said she never expected to be rescued alive, and she vowed, "I will not work in a garment factory again."
The government yesterday agreed to allow garment workers to form trade unions without permission from factory owners as part of growing concessions for industry reform.
Working conditions in the US$20 billion industry are grim, a result of government corruption, desperation for jobs, and industry indifference. Minimum wages for garment workers are among the lowest in the world at 3,000 takas (US$38) a month.
The Rana Plaza owner and eight other people have been detained. The owner added floors to the structure illegally and allowed the factories to install heavy equipment that the building was not designed to support.
On Sunday, the government set up a new minimum wage board that will issue recommendations for pay raises within three months. The Cabinet will then decide whether to accept those proposals.
Mohammed Amir Hossain Mazumder, deputy director of fire service and civil defense, said search for bodies from the April 24 collapse was called off at 6pm. Bulldozers and other vehicles have been removed from the building site, which will be fenced with bamboo sticks. Red flags have been erected around the site to bar entry.
The last body was found on Sunday night. A special prayer service will be held today to honor the dead.
For more than 19 days Rana Plaza had been the scene of frantic rescue efforts, anguished families and the overwhelming smell of decaying flesh.
Miracles were few, but last Friday, search teams found Reshma Begum, a seamstress who survived under the rubble for 17 days on dried food and bottled and rain water.
Begum spoke to reporters yesterday from the hospital where she is being treated in a Dhaka suburb. She said she never expected to be rescued alive, and she vowed, "I will not work in a garment factory again."
The government yesterday agreed to allow garment workers to form trade unions without permission from factory owners as part of growing concessions for industry reform.
Working conditions in the US$20 billion industry are grim, a result of government corruption, desperation for jobs, and industry indifference. Minimum wages for garment workers are among the lowest in the world at 3,000 takas (US$38) a month.
The Rana Plaza owner and eight other people have been detained. The owner added floors to the structure illegally and allowed the factories to install heavy equipment that the building was not designed to support.
On Sunday, the government set up a new minimum wage board that will issue recommendations for pay raises within three months. The Cabinet will then decide whether to accept those proposals.
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