Heroic rescuer forced to amputate trapped people's limbs to save them from the wreckage of Bangladesh factory after it collapsed

Didar Hossain helped 34 people trapped in rubble of Rana Plaza garment factory

Spent 50 hours and performed amputations to rescue survivors

Death toll from factory currently at 507 is ranked second most deadly structure failure in modern times



Garment worker Didar Hossain spent 50 hours releasing survivors from the wreckage.

He amputated the limbs of survivors who were wedged under the ruins.

He describes how he cut off a young girl's hand and man's leg with a knife to free them from the ruins.

Didar Hossain with Anna, one of the 36 victims he rescued. He amputated her arm to set her free

Mr Hossain risked his life as he spent more than 50 hours looking for survivors in the rubble of the collapsed garment factory

Anna's arm was wedged under crumbled concrete. Mr Hossain used the small amount of anesthetic that was available when he performed the amputation

He had been working in a factory opposite the Rana Plaza complex when it collapsed and rushed to help the rescue effort.



In an interview with BBC World Service , he said he helped 34 people. He performed the amputations with a knife and some anesthetic.

He spent five hours helping a young girl on the day after the collapse. Her hand was trapped under crumbled concrete.

Mr Hossain said: ' I went out again and told a doctor who was there that he needed to cut off her hand to get her out.

'But he said: "I can't go in there, I'm frightened. You do it." So he gave me a knife and some anaesthetic so I could amputate her hand.

'She watched while I amputated her hand. She was screaming and I was screaming too, and I cried when I saw her crying. I felt really bad, but there was no other way,' he told BBC reporters.

He said that two men who were trapped beside the young girl begged him to do the same so they could escape.

Workers dig mass graves during a mass burial of unidentified garment workers, who died in the collapse of the Rana Plaza building

Didar Hossain spent 50 hours releasing survivors from the wreckage. He was forced to amputate the limbs of trapped survivors

Survivors were found at the site up to five days after the building collapsed. The death toll continues to rise and rescue workers say many more are trapped under the building

Mr Hossain said he cut off one man's leg without any anesthetic and he managed to crawl out of the ruins on his own.



Stories of miraculous rescue efforts come as the death toll rises and there is continued confusion over how many people are missing.

The death toll from the Bangladesh factory which collapsed last week has now passed 500 after another 29 bodies were pulled from the rubble last night.

Hundreds of workers were inside the eight-storey building near the capital of Dhaka when it collapsed into rubble last week, many of whom are still unaccounted for.

The Rana Plaza housed five garment factories and with the new death toll of 507, the disaster is now ranked the second most deadly structural failure in modern times after 9/11.

Dozens of unclaimed bodies were buried in Dhaka today in the wake of the horrific accident, which claimed the lives of more than 500 workers

A crowd gathered in front of the row of graves at the traditional Muslim funeral today, following the horrific collapse that exposed the unsafe conditions plaguing Bangladesh's garment industry

Several hundred people attended the mass burial in Dhaka today, which took place amid calls for the owner of the collapsed building, Mohammed Sohel Rana, to face the death penalty

The collapse was caused by four powergenerators located on the roof, the head of a government inquiry into the disaster said today.

The four generators started up when the power was cut following an earthquake, and this may have caused the building to fall in on itself.

Rescue workers expect the number of dead to rise because they believe many bodies are still buried on the ground level of the building.

The building's owner, Mohammed Sohel Rana has been arrested along with the engineers who designed the building.

The owner of the building is expected to be charged with negligence, illegal construction and forcing workers to join work - which is punishable by a maximum of seven years in jail

Rescue workers fear the death toll could rise even further after the collapse, which reduced the building filled with workers to an estimated 600 tons of rubble

The building collapse, in which over 500 people died and 2,500 were injured, was the worst industrial disaster in the country's history

Rana had permission to build five storeys but added three more illegally.

When huge cracks appeared in the building a day before its collapse, police ordered an evacuation, but Rana told tenants it was safe.

The next day, a bank and some shops refused to open but factory managers told their workers to go back inside.

Just hours later the building came down in a heap of concrete.

Rescuers estimate the building turned into 600 tons of rubble, of which 350 tons have been removed.