Collapse factories ignored order to evacuate as death toll hits 238
Source: Agencies |
April 26, 2013, Friday
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Print Edition
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DEEP cracks visible in the walls of a Bangladesh garment building had compelled police to order it evacuated a day before it collapsed, officials said yesterday. At least 238 people were killed when the eight-story building splintered into a pile of concrete because factories ignored the order and kept more than 2,000 people working there.
Wednesday's disaster in the Dhaka suburb of Savar is the worst ever for Bangladesh's booming garment industry, surpassing a fire less than five months earlier that killed 112 people. Workers at both sites made clothes for major brands around the world; including retail giants such as Wal-Mart.
Hundreds of rescuers, some crawling through the maze of rubble in search of survivors and corpses, worked through the night and into yesterday amid the cries of the trapped and the wails of workers' relatives gathered outside the Rana Plaza building. It housed numerous garment factories and a handful of other companies.
Garment worker Mohammad Altab is pinned face down in the darkness between concrete slabs and next to two corpses. He pleaded for help, but rescuers were unable to free him.
"Save us, brother. I beg you, brother. I want to live," Altab moaned. "It's so painful here ... I have two little children."
Another survivor, whose voice could be heard from deep in the rubble, wept as he called for help.
"We want to live. It's hard to remain alive here. It would have been better to die than enduring such pain to live on. We want to live. Please save us," the man cried.
Kept working
After the cracks were reported in the walls of Rana Plaza on Tuesday, managers of a local bank that also had an office in the building evacuated their workers. The garment factories, though, kept working, ignoring the instructions of the local industrial police.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association 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 the group's president Atiqul Islam.
Yesterday morning, the odor of rotting bodies wafted through holes cut into the building. Bangladesh's junior minister for home affairs, Shamsul Haque, said that by late morning 2,000 people had been rescued from the wreckage.
Brigade General Mohammed Siddiqul Alam Shikder, who is overseeing army rescue teams, said the death toll had climbed to 238 by yesterday evening.
Dozens of bodies, their faces covered, were laid outside a local school building so relatives could identify them. Thousands relatives gathered outside the building, waiting for news, and thousands of garment workers from nearby factories took to the streets across the industrial zone in protest.
Shikder said rescue operations were progressing slowly and carefully so as to save as many people as possible.
Wednesday's disaster in the Dhaka suburb of Savar is the worst ever for Bangladesh's booming garment industry, surpassing a fire less than five months earlier that killed 112 people. Workers at both sites made clothes for major brands around the world; including retail giants such as Wal-Mart.
Hundreds of rescuers, some crawling through the maze of rubble in search of survivors and corpses, worked through the night and into yesterday amid the cries of the trapped and the wails of workers' relatives gathered outside the Rana Plaza building. It housed numerous garment factories and a handful of other companies.
Garment worker Mohammad Altab is pinned face down in the darkness between concrete slabs and next to two corpses. He pleaded for help, but rescuers were unable to free him.
"Save us, brother. I beg you, brother. I want to live," Altab moaned. "It's so painful here ... I have two little children."
Another survivor, whose voice could be heard from deep in the rubble, wept as he called for help.
"We want to live. It's hard to remain alive here. It would have been better to die than enduring such pain to live on. We want to live. Please save us," the man cried.
Kept working
After the cracks were reported in the walls of Rana Plaza on Tuesday, managers of a local bank that also had an office in the building evacuated their workers. The garment factories, though, kept working, ignoring the instructions of the local industrial police.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association 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 the group's president Atiqul Islam.
Yesterday morning, the odor of rotting bodies wafted through holes cut into the building. Bangladesh's junior minister for home affairs, Shamsul Haque, said that by late morning 2,000 people had been rescued from the wreckage.
Brigade General Mohammed Siddiqul Alam Shikder, who is overseeing army rescue teams, said the death toll had climbed to 238 by yesterday evening.
Dozens of bodies, their faces covered, were laid outside a local school building so relatives could identify them. Thousands relatives gathered outside the building, waiting for news, and thousands of garment workers from nearby factories took to the streets across the industrial zone in protest.
Shikder said rescue operations were progressing slowly and carefully so as to save as many people as possible.
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