Saturday 27 April 2013

761 people still missing in Savar tragedy


Rescuers have come up with a list of 761 people who are still missing in the worst building collapse in the country.

The list has been made as per information given by the relatives of those who used to work inside the Rana Plaza, Savar Model Police Station Inspector (Investigation) Aminur Rahman told bdnews24.com.

”We have put the names on the list checking the identity cards and photos of those missing until 12am on Saturday,” he said.

The high-rise commercial building came crushing down on Wednesday morning. According to local people, around 3,500 employees were working in the five garment factories inside when the tragedy struck.

Since then, thousands of people thronged the site with photos to get their relatives dead or alive.

Rescuers have pulled out more than 2,348 people alive from the ruins so far.

A temporary control room has been set up near the Savar Bus Stand close to the site of the disaster to provide the distressed families with information.

Official estimates put the deaths at 304 at 5:35pm Friday, Inspector (Investigation) Aminur Rahman of the Savar Model Station told bdnews24.com

So far, 286 bodies have been handed over to the relatives, he said and added that 23 bodies have been sent to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital as they had started to decompose.

Shafiul Alam is one of those anxious about the fate of his dear ones at the site.

His niece Nazma Akhter,20, who hails from Barisal’s Tungibaria is missing.

Alam told bdnews24.com Nazma had joined the EtherTex on the fifth floor of the nine-storey commercial building only a year ago.

“I have looked everywhere … nearby hospitals, CMH, the row of dead bodies being piled up on the ground, but did not find her,” he said.

People like Lutfor Rahman, Awal Bepari also have come there from across Bangladesh to locate their relatives.

Saturday 27 April 2013 http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2013/04/26/761-people-still-missing-in-savar-tragedy

continue reading

Rescuers find 50 survivors in Bangladesh factory collapse


Rescuers found 50 people alive late Friday in the rubble of a Bangladesh garment factory complex making Western brand clothes that caved in two days earlier, leaving over 300 workers dead.

A total of 304 people are so far known to have died after the eight-storey building collapsed in the industrial area of Savar town on the outskirts of the Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Wednesday morning, according to the army.

"We have found around 50 people still alive at several places on the third floor after digging tunnels. We hope we can rescue them by tomorrow morning," said Sheikh Mizanur Rahman, deputy director of the Bangladeshi fire service.

The discovery of more survivors brought new hope to the thousands of desperate relatives huddled at the disaster site, but an intense stench of decomposition suggested many bodies remain trapped in the rubble.

"We've rescued about 80 people alive from the rubble today (Friday)," Rahman added. More than 2,300 people had been rescued alive since the collapse but many are severely injured, the army said.

Exhausted rescue teams of soldiers, firemen and volunteers using concrete-cutters and drilling machines were racing against time in searing heat to find more survivors from the country's worst industrial disaster.

As night fell, spotlights shone on the mountain of mangled concrete and steel, and relatives held photographs of missing family members waiting for news.

Earlier in the day, police battled to control huge angry crowds of garment workers protesting over the tragedy, the latest to befall Bangladesh's huge garment sector which is a big foreign exchange earner for the poor nation.

Widespread anger has been fuelled by revelations that factory bosses forced workers to return to the building on Wednesday despite cracks appearing in the building the previous day.

Police fired tear-gas and rubber bullets at the workers -- who sew clothes for well-known Western brands for as little as $37 a month -- as they blocked roads and attacked factories and buses in textile-making districts around Dhaka.

"The situation is very volatile," M. Asaduzzaman, an officer in the police control room in manufacturing hub Gazipur, told AFP.

The Rana Plaza building collapsed within minutes on Wednesday morning.

British low-cost fashion line Primark and Spanish giant Mango have acknowledged having their products made in the block, while a host of brands including Walmart and France's Carrefour are investigating.

The accident has prompted new accusations from labour activists that Western clothing companies place profit before safety by sourcing their products from Bangladesh, despite its shocking track record of deadly disasters.

Last November, a blaze at a factory making products for Walmart and other Western labels left 111 people dead, with survivors describing how fire exits were kept locked by site managers.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply saddened by the loss of life" caused by the incident, according to his spokesperson, and extended an offer of assistance to Bangladesh.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the building collapse "shows the urgent need to improveBangladesh's protections for worker health and safety".

With many of the country's 4,500 factories already shut due to protests and fears of damage, manufacturers declared Saturday a holiday and trade unions called a strike for Sunday to demand better working conditions.

"Enough is enough. It's time the government acted. They should save garment workers, not factory owners!" Mosherafu Mishu, a leader of the Garment Workers Unity Forum, told a rally in Dhaka.

Amid frustration about the slow pace of progress, thousands of relatives at one point burst onto the disaster site, prompting police to fire tear gas to disperse the crowd.

At nearby Enam Medical College Hospital, doctors struggled to treat around 1,200 people admitted since Wednesday morning, many with missing limbs or with such bad injuries they required amputations.

"Some have gangrene," doctor Hiralal Roy told AFP.

Police, meanwhile, made a string of raids to track down the factory and building owners after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed to bring them to justice.

Saturday 27 April 2013

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/rescuers-find-50-survivors-in-bangladesh/654842.html

continue reading

20 killed, 25 injured as tractor plunges into gorge


At least 20 persons were killed and 25 injured, 12 of them seriously, when a tractor carrying a marriage party fell into a gorge in Rayagada district today, police said.

The incident took place in a remote area between Uppar Anchal Bari and Hataguma when the tractor, carrying about 60 persons from Hiranpadu village, plunged into gorge after one of its front wheels broke on a hill top.

The victims, including women and children, were returning home at Hiranpadu village after attending a wedding at Seriguma village when the accident occurred, Rayagada SP Rajesh Pandit said.

"So far, we have information regarding death of 20 persons but the bodies are yet to be identified," said Tapan Mohanty, inspector in-charge of Rayagada Police Station.

All the injured persons were taken to Rayagada district headquarters hospital.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced medical expenses of the injured would be given from Chief Minister's Relief Fund and State Treatment Fund.

He directed the district collector of Rayagada to shift seriously injured persons to a nearby hospital at Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

"The district administration has decided to refer three of them to a hospital at Vishakhapatnam," said Sashi Bhusan Padhi, Rayagada district collector

Saturday 27 April 2013

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/20-killed-25-injured-as-tractor-plunges-into-gorge-113042600825_1.html

continue reading