I survived because I missed my breakfast: Dhaka factory victim saved by biscuits she bought on her way to work



Reshma Begum nibbled dry biscuits in her 17 days trapped underground

She sipped water from bottles dropped down cavities by rescuers

The 19-year-old is recovering from her ordeal in hospital



A woman who was rescued after 17 days from under the rubble of a collapsed garments factory in Bangladesh has told how she survived on biscuits and bottles of water.

Reshma Begum stunned her country and the world when she was pulled out of the rubble without any serious injuries.

Miss Begum, 19, said that on the day of the building’s collapse, she had rushed to work and did not have any breakfast.



Instead, she bought four small packets of biscuits on her way into work. It was a decision that would save her life – as she then rationed her scarce supply over the next two weeks.

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Miracle: Reshma Begum was pulled from the rubble alive 17 days after the garment factory collapsed

Tragedy: At least 1,100 people died when the garment factory in Savar, near Dhaka in Bangladesh collapsed but the search for survivors had now been called off

Her rescue – which was shown live on national television – brought the country’s capital, Dhaka, to a standstill as people stopped work and gathered around TV sets.

Yesterday, Miss Begum told hospital staff and her rescuers that she lived on the biscuits and bottles of water for the first 15 days – as she lay holed-up inside a cavity in the wreckage of the Rana Plaza building in the Savar area of Dhaka.

It is believed the lifesaving bottles of water reached her after they were thrown down a hole by rescue workers. The rescuers had been told to push the bottles down every hole and cavity they stumbled across – in the hope those trapped underneath would receive them.

Miss Begum – who lived alone in a rented room in Savar – said that when the eight-storey building collapsed, she was on the third floor.

She managed to run down to the second floor but became trapped in a cavity. The cavity was big enough for her to move about in and there was enough air to breathe.

But her hair had become stuck under a boulder, so she had to pull off strands to set herself free.

Recovering at the Combined Military Hospital in Savar, Miss Begum said: ‘No one heard me. It was so frightening. I never dreamed I’d see the daylight again.’



The seamstress now has trouble sleeping at night, and occasionally grips a nurse’s hand in apparent panic attacks.

Exhausted: Miss Begum was dehydrated and panicked after her ordeal

Trauma: Doctors say she has had trouble sleeping and panic attacks

In safe hands: Miss Begum is recovering at a military hospital

Colonel Azizur Rahman, a military doctor at the hospital, said: ‘We don’t want those memories to haunt her now, so we are not allowing anybody to ask her anything.

‘She is now being provided semi-liquid food.’

It has emerged that Miss Begum’s family learned that she was alive after watching the rescue on TV.

Her mother Zobeida Begum, who is in her 60s, said: ‘I just could not believe it when I saw her alive in the hospital.’

Her sister Asma said: ‘We got her back when we had just lost all hope of finding her alive.’

They said they had kept a vigil for the seamstress, who is from the rural Dinajpur district, 170 miles north of Dhaka.

Doctors said last night that Miss Begum is suffering from dehydration but will make a full recovery.

The death toll in the worst industrial accident in the country’s history has now reached 1,100 – and the government is facing criticism for not imposing better checks on buildings run by the garments industry.

Miss Begum was filmed by Somoy TV in her hospital bed, as doctors and nurses milled about, giving her saline and checking her condition.



Survivor: Miss Begum was uninjured save for her hair getting trapped under a boulder

Missed breakfast: The 19-year-old survived on packs of biscuits she had bought as she was late for work

Joy: The factory worker's rescue was shown live on national television and the crowd cheered as she was released

She said: 'I heard voices of the rescue workers for the past several days. I kept hitting the wreckage with sticks and rods just to attract their attention.

'No one heard me. It was so bad for me. I never dreamed I'd see the daylight again,' she said.

'There was some dried food around me. I ate the dried food for 15 days. 'The last two days I had nothing but water. I used to drink only a limited quantity of water to save it. I had some bottles of water around me,' she said.

Once she finally got their attention, the crews ordered the cranes and bulldozers to immediately stop work and used handsaws and welding and drilling equipment to cut through the iron rod and debris still trapping her.

They gave her water, oxygen and saline as they worked to free her. When Miss Begum was freed after 40 minutes, the crowd erupted in wild cheers.

She was rushed to a military hospital in an ambulance, but her rescuers said she was in surprisingly good condition, despite her ordeal.

She told her rescuers there were no more survivors in her area but workers began tearing through the nearby rubble anyway, hoping to find another person alive. 'Reshma told me there were three others with her. They died. She did not see anybody else alive there,' said Major General Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, the head of the local military units. Bodies were eventually recovered from another nearby section of the building, he said.

Destruction: Workers are continuing to clear the rubble at the scene of the building collapse Bodies: Rescuers have been working to remove corpses which are decomposing quickly in the 30C heat Workers at the site had been clearing the rubble since the collapse April 24. More than 2,500 people were rescued in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. However, no survivors had been found in the wreckage since April 28, when Shahin Akter was found amid the wreckage. As workers tried to free her, a fire broke out and she died of smoke inhalation. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called Miss Begum in the hospital and she began crying on the phone as she told him: 'I am fine, please pray for me,' Suhrawardy said.

Hasina, whose government has come under criticism for failing to tackle the powerful garment industry, raced to the hospital by helicopter to meet her and congratulate the rescuers, officials said.

'This is an unbelievable feat,' Hasina was quoted as saying by her assistant, Mahbubul Haque Shakil. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association earlier said 3,122 workers were employed at the five factories housed in the building, but it was not clear how many were there during the packed morning shift.

Duty-free access offered by Western countries and low wages have helped turn Bangladesh's garment exports into a $19billion-a-year industry, with 60 percent of clothes going to Europe. Vigil: Relatives continue to wait outside the collapsed building hoping for news of loved ones Grief: The collapse was the country's worst industrial accident to date The European Union, which gives preferential access to Bangladeshi garments, had threatened punitive measures in order to press Dhaka to improve worker safety standards after the collapse of the illegally built factory on April 24. About 4million people work in Bangladesh's garment industry, making it the world's second-largest clothing exporter after China. Following protests, authorities also began dispersing salaries and other benefits to survivors of the collapse and ordered the shut down of a string of factories over further safety concerns. The move came days after Bangladesh agreed with the International Labor Organisation to give safety 'the highest consideration', despite fears Western bargain retailers might source goods elsewhere. 'Sixteen factories have been closed down in Dhaka and two in Chittagong,' said textile minister Abdul Latif Siddique, adding that more could be shut if they do not meet strict new safety measures. He added: 'We have seen that those who claim to be the best compliant factories in Bangladesh have not fully abided by building regulations.' The disaster is the worst ever in the garment sector, surpassing fires last year that killed about 260 people in Pakistan and 112 in Bangladesh, as well as the 1911 garment disaster in New York's Triangle Shirtwaist factory that killed 146 workers.