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TWO FACTORY OWNERS along with two engineers have been arrested in Bangladesh following the collapse of a factory that killed at least 341 people.
Bazlus Samad, the chairman of New Wave Buttons and New Wave Style factories, and Mahmudur Rahaman Tapash, a managing director, were detained shortly after midnight, after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed those responsible for the country’s deadliest industrial disaster would be hunted down.
The senior investigating officer Kaiser Matubbor said that two municipal engineers who had given the building the all-clear after an inspection on Tuesday night had also been arrested and would face similar charges.
A further 23 people were pulled alive this morning from the ruins of the eight-storey Rana Plaza compound which caved in on Wednesday while thousands of garment workers were stitching clothes for Western brands.
But emergency workers warned their task was getting steadily harder as survivors were losing their strength to call for help.
Survivors have said the building developed visible cracks on Tuesday, but bosses ordered staff to return to the production lines.
Hundreds of relatives of missing workers have massed at the site to witness the search for their loved ones.
Akram Hossain, a deputy director of the fire service, said there were still some survivors trapped in pockets of the wreckage but warned their chances were “diminishing by the minute”.
“The stench of dead bodies is so strong that we have to work with one hand and air freshener in the other,” Al Amin, a volunteer said.
Mahbubur Rahman, the fire service’s director of operations, said rescuers were carving tunnels through the wreckage and bodies could be seen everywhere.
Merina Begum, among those rescued earlier today, said she and seven fellow workers trapped in the same area had been without food or water since Thursday.
“This morning when the rescue workers brought juice, ice cream and cold water, it was tastiest food I’ve ever had,” she said.
Bangladesh is the world’s number two garment manufacturer and the industry is the mainstay of the economy. But it has a shocking safety record, with a factory fire killing 111 people in November.
Britain’s Primark and Spain’s Mango have acknowledged having their products made in the block, while other brands including Walmart are investigating.
The accident has prompted new accusations from activists that Western firms place profit before safety by sourcing their products from a country where textile workers often earn less than $40 a month.
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Great article, great respect for this man, fantastic doctor. Will definitely be reading his book!
Amazing Doctor –
A decent and honorable man. Stood as a rock of common sense against waves of bile. I suppose the trolls will be out for another nibble.
Amazing Doctor –
Another Doctor who thinks he is God.
@Liam Mernagh: A Doctor who doesnt let religion get in the way of medical practice more like.
@Liam Mernagh: Ok? Scientific evidence of your God in references please?
@Martin O’Reilly: Do you know how to make a motor car?
@Alan Dillon: Our civilisation in the main and our laws in general are based on the Christian concepts and ethos but I can understand that egotistical people might not want to bow the knee to a superior being.
@Liam Mernagh: Yes as a mechanical engineer, methinks I’d be up for it!
@Liam Mernagh: Now for your references, without further ado!
@Martin O’Reilly: good, then you will understand that if a car has to be designed and parts designed and manufactured and then assembled in the correct fashion and adjusted a nd commissioned, you should be able to see how facile it is to think the universe happened by accident. Just look around yourself any day at the beautiful world and the seasons and say to yourself “What an accident “
@Martin O’Reilly: when you get up in the morning take a look; open your eyes and take a good look at the beautiful world around you and the sho me your evidence for the accident.
Oh you’ve been attending him so – have you
@Liam Mernagh: please stop rolling along with you pretentious pious claptrap. I am beginning to realise here that is hard to talk , chat to the converted. All I have questioned on is scientific DNA of your God or any of his so called fellow travelers dna being detected by Isotopic tests etc. Once and for all answer the question being put to you!
@Martin O’Reilly: you show me your evidence to the contrary and desist from being abusive. If you feel that you have all the answers then that’s fine for you but it certainly takes a hell of an ego.
The North West of Ireland is in the debt of Peter Boylan, he came to Leitrim and Donegal and Longford and stood for what he believed in, that meant a lot to campaigners here and we will never forget what he did and the abuse he took from anti choice people, you should hear how they hissed whenever Savita was mentioned. That woman died, no matter how they felt she died, that is the most disrespectful way to treat someone who had their young life cut short.
It’s funny how the Gov couldn’t find the money for free contraception but can fund abortion. It’s a bit backwards
@Joe Mc: Only if you think, like many of the people opposed to repealing the 8th, that abortion is in some way to be invoked solely as a means of contraception. It’s really quite a lazy position to take, but is generally in keeping with the church’s general distrust of women.
A courageous gentleman who put the needs of his patients first. Thankfully religious contamination of medicine is ending
Any word from the Vatican yet on the Hospital site at least with Peter you get the Facts
Going to buy the book
Great man! Not forgetting Dr. Noel Browne either!
Great respect for Peter Boylan
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