BANGLADESH: The death toll from a building collapse in Bangladesh rises to at least 175 and is expected to climb higher, police say

Record ID: 216360

  • Title: BANGLADESH: The death toll from a building collapse in Bangladesh rises to at least 175 and is expected to climb higher, police say
  • Date: 25th April 2013
  • Summary: WOMAN SINGING WOMAN CRYING WHILE HOLDING UP PHOTO OF LOVED ONE (SOUNDBITE) (Bengali) WOMAN WHO SAYS SHE IS BANESA, WHOSE YOUNGER SISTER DIED IN THE COLLAPSE, SAYING: "My name is Banesa, my younger sister died, we were both working in this factory. Yesterday I did not go to the factory so I am alive." PEOPLE MOURNING
  • Embargoed: 10th May 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bangladesh
  • Country: Bangladesh
  • Topics: Accidents
  • Reuters ID: LVAEFU2FG0LJQPVCBVPS5JT7QZIQ
  • Story Text: At least 175 mainly women workers were killed in a Bangladesh building collapse and rescuers searching for survivors said on Thursday (April 25) that many more were trapped in the rubble of a complex that housed factories supplying Western clothes retailers.
    The disaster, which comes five months after a factory fire that killed more than 100 people, could hurt Bangladesh's reputation as a source of low-cost goods and call attention to European and North American companies that buy products there.
    Rescue workers were digging through the wreckage of the eight-storey Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (20 miles) outside the capital Dhaka, which collapsed on Wednesday. More than 1,000 people were injured.
    Families of those missing in the collapse gathered near a school where the bodies were being taken. Many wept as they held up photographs of their loved ones.

    "My name is Banesa, my younger sister died, we were both working in this factory. Yesterday I did not go to the factory so I am alive," said a woman who identified herself as Banesa.
    Dhaka city development authority on Thursday filed a case against the building's owner for faulty construction. Police said they filed another case against the owner and the five garments factories for causing unlawful death.
    The Rana Plaza building collapse follows a fire at the Tazreen Fashion factory on the outskirts of Dhaka that killed 112 people in November and another incident at a factory in January in which seven people died, compounding concerns about worker safety and low wages in Bangladesh.
    About 3.6 million people work in Bangladesh's garment industry, making it the world's second-largest apparel exporter.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register