BANGLADESH: Relatives await news of victims still missing in building collapse as death toll tops 500

Record ID: 216383

  • Title: BANGLADESH: Relatives await news of victims still missing in building collapse as death toll tops 500
  • Date: 3rd May 2013
  • Summary: DHAKA, BANGLADESH (MAY 03,2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HEAVY MACHINERY REMOVING DEBRIS FROM SITE OF COLLAPSED BUILDING PEOPLE WATCHING HEAVY MACHINERY REMOVING DEBRIS VARIOUS OF MAN SITTING NEAR SITE WITH PICTURES OF HIS SON, DAUGHTER AND SON-IN-LAW VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS DIGGING OUT BODIES FROM THE RUBBLE VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS AND RED CRESCENT VOLUNTEERS CARRYING BODIES ON STR
  • Embargoed: 18th May 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Bangladesh
  • Country: Bangladesh
  • Topics: Accidents,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1AGTU8NVBLXL67FJUFRSZED8W
  • Story Text: The death toll from Bangladesh's worst industrial accident rose to 501 on Friday (May 3), with the scores of relatives still gathered at the site in a Dhaka suburb searching for missing loved ones.
    Police investigating the collapse of the factory complex are now holding nine people over the April 24 disaster, which has put the spotlight on the many Western clothing retailers who use Bangladesh as a source of cheap goods.
    Soldiers and volunteers at the site were still picking through the debris on Friday as more bodies of garment workers were recovered.
    Relatives clutching photographs of loved ones have been gathered nearby since the disaster, attesting to the many more victims still missing.
    One woman said there had been no news on her daughter, who had only just began working at a factory in the building.
    "The name of my daughter (who is missing) is Mallika, and her daughter is Aklima. My daughter is missing, till today she is missing, she was working in that factory on the fourth floor, she joined three months ago, there's no trace of her as yet," Bulbuli said.
    As bodies pulled from the rubble were laid out for identification, one volunteer said the death toll was still rising.
    "Since last night till now we have found 40 bodies. The numbers are increasing, still bodies are coming," Jalil Miah said.
    An engineer, who warned the eight-storey complex was unsafe, is the latest person to be arrested in connection with the collapse.
    Engineer Razzak had been called to Rana Plaza in Savar, 20 miles (30 km) north of the capital, by its owner when cracks appeared in concrete pillars the day before the accident.
    Police said he had been arrested because he had been involved in the original construction of the building.
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