Savar tragedy: Search for survivors rolls into 5th day; Death toll now 360

SAVAR: The death toll from the collapse of the complex that also housed five garment factories jumped to 360 with recovery of 4 more bodies from the debris on Sunday as the search for the survivors goes on.

OC, DB (Dhaka district) Wahiduzzaman said 359 bodies have so far been pulled out from the wreckage of the building.

Of the total bodies, 346 were handed over to the victims’ families, he said.

The rescuers also recovered four people alive from the ruins of the building early Sunday. With the latest ones, some 2433 people have been rescued alive since the complex collapsed on Wednesday, sources at the Control Room opened here said.

Locals said some heavy equipment, including cranes and bulldozers, have been assembled here to launch a massive operation. Army personnel have been taking preparation to launch the operation and removed the local people from near the complex site.

However, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Savar Cantonment Major General Chowdhury Hasan on Saturday night said those still remained trapped alive inside the collapsed building will be rescued.

The rescue operation will continue as long as the last person remained trapped but alive is rescued. He, however, declined to give any specific time when the rescue operation will come to an end.

The ill-constructed building had accommodated at least five garment factories and some 300 shops with nearly 4,000 workers. However, it is not still clear as to how many workers were at their workplaces on the fateful day.

The building, ‘Rana Plaza’, which developed cracks on Tuesday morning, collapsed after a big bang around 9.00 am on Wednesday.

Many survivors alleged that the owners of their garment factories had forced them to go back to work on Wednesday morning against their will.

Five cases were filed on behalf of Labour and Employment Ministry with the Labour Court against the owners of the building and the garment factories housed in the complex.

Eleven people, including building owner Sohel Rana’s wife and three garment factory owners, were held in this connection in the last two days.

Four people, including two garment owners, arrested in connection with the Savar building collapse, were remanded on Saturday.

The four are Bazlus Samad Adnan, 45, chairman of New Wave Buttons and New Wave Style, and Mahmudur Rahman Tapos, managing director of the two garment units, Imtemam Hossain, executive engineer of Savar Pourashava and Alam Mia, assistant engineer of Savar pourashava.