Survivors pulled from rubble after at least 82 people killed by collapse of eight-storey building on outskirts of Dhaka.
Scores Dead and Hundreds Feared Trapped in building Collapse at Savar
At least 82 people have been killed and many more are feared dead after an eight-storey building collapsed in the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh, injuring hundreds of others, and leaving an unknown number of people trapped in the rubble, according to Bangladeshi officials and media outlets.
The building collapse occurred in Savar, a suburb of the national capital of Dhaka, and is the latest tragic accident to afflict Bangladesh’s garment industry. Bangladesh is the world’s second-leading garment exporter, trailing only China.
This latest fatal accident, coming five months after a fire at the Tazreen Fashions factory killed at least 112 garment workers, is likely to again raise questions about work conditions in Bangladesh: workers told Bangladeshi news outlets that supervisors had ordered them to attend work on Wednesday, even though cracks were discovered in the building on Tuesday.
Photographs showed rescue workers in hard hats climbing ladders into the pancaked structure, even as hundreds of people crowded outside, waiting to see if survivors could be pulled from the wreckage. Health Minister AFM Ruhal Haque told reporters that at least 70 people were killed, more than 600 were injured and others remained trapped.
A massive rescue mission is now under way as officials said on Wednesday that hundreds of people were still trapped in the rubble.
“The death toll is now 82. At least 700 people have also been treated at the hospital,” Hiralal Roy, a senior emergency ward doctor at the nearby Enam Hospital where victims are being transferred, said.
Only the ground floor of the Rana Plaza in the Savar district, which also housed a garment factory, remained intact after the collapse at 8:30am local time on Wednesday morning, said the officials.
Our correspondent at Savar, described the scene as being chaotic.
“It is a scene of complete mayhem and chaos, hundreds of people are trapped under the rubble and a still being pulled out,” she said.
“The army has taken over rescuing people from the disaster. The army, police, and volunteers are working collectively to pull people out of the rubble.”
The correspondent said there had been some reports that cracks were seen forming in the building on Tuesday.
“Many people are feared dead,” said Abul Bashar from fire service, adding that the military has been called in to help the rescue effort.
A further 150 people, most of them garment workers, received first aid without being admitted to hospital. Local police chief M Asaduzzaman said that the situation was “disastrous and at least 100 people are feared trapped.”
It is thought that the complex, which housed three or four garment factories, may have been the workplace of up to 3,000 people, although it is unclear how many were in the building when it collapsed.
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