Sunday 24 November 2013

On 24th of every month, they mourn


November 24 marks one year of the terrible fire at Tazreen Fashions, a garment factory in Nischintapur area of Ashulia, and seven months into the deadly collapse of Rana Plaza at Savar that took place on April 24.

The 24th day comes every month, but sufferings of the survivors, and family members of the missing and deceased workers remain unheeded. On this day, they gather on the premises of the two buildings; they did it again on Sunday and demonstrated under the banners of different workers’ bodies and left-leaning organisations.

Most of them lost the only bread earners of the family, while many survivors lost their limbs for which they will not able to work anymore in future. Bangladesh Garments Workers Federation and Bangladesh Garments Workers Solidarity organised programmes on Rana Plaza premises and Tazreen Fashions demanding actual compensation and arrest of Tazreen’s owner Delwar Hossain.

They also demanded a complete list of missing workers. Around 1,000 survivors and family members of the missing and deceased workers gathered at the two places.

They also brought out a rally on Dhaka-Aricha highway and paid tribute to the deceased workers at the Rana Plaza premises. At Savar, the victims’ family members alleged that they had not got any financial support from the prime minister. They said they had already spent a lot of money to prepare documents.

They also expressed anxiety why only some family members had been given compensation. Coordinator of BGWS Taslima Akhter said: “The government officials say the number of missing workers from Rana Plaza collapse is 379, the army says 261, but we found 291 graves at Jurain graveyard.

Show us the actual number of missing workers of these two incidents.” Kanchon Mala, Kamal Hossain and Amina khatun used to work at Phantom Apparels of the 3rd floor of Rana Plaza. Their family members told to this reporter that despite being parents of the deceased, they had to hear from Dhaka Medical College Hospital authorities that the DNA reports did not match.

Those victims family showed original documents to the Dhaka tribune. Prof Anu Muhammad of Jahangirnagar University told the Dhaka Tribune: “We have estimated that the amount of relief gathered in the prime minister’s fund are enough to provide compensation to the survivors and families of the deceased workers.

“If those money is provided properly, the victims’ families will get Tk4.8m each while the survivors Tk2.4m. But we cannot understand why our honourable prime minister is yet to announce the compensation in these two incidents,” he added.

Sunday 24 November 2013

http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/nov/25/24th-every-month-they-mourn

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Death toll from China oil pipeline blast rises to 52, 11 missing


The death toll from Friday's oil pipeline blasts in east China's Shandong Province rose to 52 as of 1pm today after four more bodies were found at the scene, rescuers said.

Reports and investigations showed that 11 others were missing in the deadly accident, the rescue headquarters said.

Among the dead, four have not yet been identified, according to the rescue headquarters for the blast accident, which occurred at Huangdao district in Qingdao City.

Six of the dead were professional firefighters with the Huangdao oil warehouse of Sinopec, China's largest oil refiner.

Rescue efforts continued today despite rainy weather. The complicated situation and the remains of flammable gas at certain sections in the explosion area hindered the debris-clearing progress.

Crude oil began leaking from an underground pipeline operated by Sinopec at 3:00am Friday in Huangdao District of Qingdao, according to the municipal government. The valves of the Huangdao oil warehouse were shut about 15 minutes later.

The oil spill then flowed into the city's rainwater pipe network, which empties into Jiaozhou Bay. Two blasts occurred at around 10:30am Friday when workers were repairing the ruptured pipeline.

The damaged pipeline was put into use in July 1986. It is the second pipeline linking Dongying City in Shandong with Huangdao. The pipe measures 711 mm in diameter and runs 248.5 km, with an annual oil transfer capacity of 10 million tonnes.

Ten of the 136 hospitalized are in critical condition, according to provincial health authorities.

About 18,000 residents were evacuated following the explosions, which ripped through roads, overturned vehicles, and shattered the windows and bricks of nearby buildings.

Sinopec's board chairman, Fu Chengyu, apologized for the accident yesterday. He vowed all-out efforts to handle the rescue, relief and aftermath and to cooperate with the investigation team of the State Council to find the cause of the accident.

Sunday 24 November 2013

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/national/Death-toll-from-China-oil-pipeline-blast-rises-to-52-11-missing/shdaily.shtml

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