Bangladesh factory collapse toll hits 30
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-04-13 08:28

Rescuers digging through the concrete debris of a collapsed sweater factory in Bangladesh heard survivors pleading for help Tuesday, but the cries were fading a day after the nine-story building toppled, killing at least 30 people and trapping 200.

An unidentified relative of a worker trapped in a collapsed garment factory cries at Savar, an industrial town, 32 kilometers (20 miles), northwest of Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tuesday, April 12, 2005.[AP]

Nine bodies were pulled from the rubble overnight, but rescuers were hopeful that more lives could be saved. Some trapped survivors could be heard calling for help and begging for water, witnesses said. Emergency workers said hopes of finding more survivors were fading.

The building near Savar, an industrial town 20 miles northwest of the capital Dhaka, collapsed after a boiler explosion early Monday.

On Tuesday, one survivor walked out of the rubble.

"He just crawled out of an open space all by himself, stood dazed for a bit and collapsed in front of us," said Anisul Islam, a rescue volunteer. "We were amazed. It was a real miracle."

The survivor, who was trapped on the ground floor, was later identified only as Polash, 25. He was recovering in a hospital.

Nurul Islam, a police official supervising the rescue work, said about 200 people were feared trapped beneath the mangled sweater factory that collapsed Monday.

Anxious relatives joined soldiers, firefighters and volunteers in the search for those trapped. Islam, the police official, said at least 92 injured workers were taken to hospitals.

Rescue workers break through debris of a collapsed nine-story garment factory near Dhaka April 12, 2005.[Reuters]

"What sin have we committed? Why would Allah take him?" said Sharmin Akhtar, 23, as she searched for her husband, Jahangir Alam.

One survivor, Helaluddin, said he was on the seventh floor along with about 90 workers when the building collapsed.

"I was overseeing the workers when there was a big bang and (the) building suddenly started shaking and going down," said Helaluddin, who uses one name. "I was buried under slabs of concrete before I could realize what had happened."

Abdus Salam, a 15-year-old working the overnight shift when the factory collapsed, had promised to buy candy for his mother and younger sister with his first-ever paycheck, his family said.

"I will never see the face of my son — he was my soul," Fatema Begum wailed as relatives lost hope for Salam's survival. "Who will bring sweets for me now?"

Salam dropped out of school to work at the factory as a knitting machine operator earning $30 a month.

The government has ordered an investigation into the accident.

The factory, Spectrum Sweaters Ltd., produced nearly 80,000 pieces of clothing a day for export, mainly to the United States, Belgium and Germany. Bangladesh has about 2,500 garment factories employing about 1.8 million workers.

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