Bangladesh building death toll passes 1,000

Updated

The death toll in Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster has passed 1,000 after more bodies were found in the rubble of a collapsed nine-storey building outside the capital Dhaka.

Army spokesman Captain Shahnewaz Zakaria said the "death toll now stands at 1,006" as the recovery operation in Savar town, 30 kilometres south-west of Dhaka, entered its 17th day.

He said workers armed with "cranes, bulldozers and excavators" had pulled out 130 bodies from the rubble since early Thursday morning.

Some of the bodies, which are badly decomposed, could only be identified by the mobile phones in their pockets or factory identity cards around their neck, he added.

"Of the total dead, most are female garment workers," Captain Zakaria said.

The authorities are taking DNA samples from all the victims for future compensation claims.

More than 3,000 garment workers were in the building's five garment factories, which made clothing for Western retailers such as Benetton, Mango and Primark, when the structure collapsed.

At least 2,437 people were rescued, around 1,000 suffering serious injuries, including scores whose limbs had to be cut off to free them from the rubble.

Efforts to identify the victims are being hampered by the decomposition of bodies.

Recovery workers, who are drawn from the ranks of the army and fire service, are having to wear masks and use air freshener.

Preliminary findings of a government probe have blamed vibrations from four giant generators on the compound's upper floors for triggering the collapse.

Police have arrested 12 people including the plaza's owner and four garment factory owners for forcing people to work on April 24, even though cracks appeared in the structure the previous day.

Factory workers have held protests calling for tough punishment for those responsible for the disaster, and demanding improved safety regulations.

Bangladesh has suffered a string of deadly accidents in the textile industry.

On Thursday, disaster struck again as a fire in another garment factory in Dhaka killed eight people, including its owner.

The cause of the fire was not known, but authorities said it broke out during the night on the third floor of an 11-storey building that housed garment factories of the Tung Hai group.

AFP

Topics: disasters-and-accidents, textiles, bangladesh

First posted