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RESCUE TEAMS AT the site of a collapsed factory block in Bangladesh where 363 people have died called in heavy-lifting equipment on Sunday as hopes of finding more survivors faded.
Four people were hauled out alive overnight more than 90 hours after the disaster, but the last feeble cries for help, still audible from inside the mountain of rubble early in the day, appeared to have ended.
“Apparently there is no more sign of life under the rubble,” national fire chief Ahmed Ali told AFP. “Together with the army we have decided to use heavy equipment like cranes to remove the debris and slabs vertically from midday today.”
Rescuers have been only using hand tools such as cutters and drills, fearing the use of cranes would dislodge masonry and jeopardise the chances of survival of those still trapped alive.
Hundreds of army and fire personnel, as well as workers from the factory who volunteered to help, were still pouring over the disaster site, gulping air freshener to conceal the overpowering stench of decomposing bodies.
“Our hope is that we may still find some people alive under the debris,” Ali said. “We shall use cranes very carefully so that it does not harm the chances of survival of people still alive inside.”
Image: Kevin Frayer/AP/Press Association Images
Dozens of bodies can be seen inside the concrete mountain, meaning the death toll for the country’s worst industrial accident is set rise further.
It has once again focused attention on the poor safety conditions in the Bangladeshi garment industry, which is the world’s second biggest after China, supplying to most big Western clothing brands.
Britain’s Primark and Spain’s Mango have acknowledged their products were 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.
As outrage over the country’s worst industrial disaster spread at home and abroad, police made a string of arrests on Saturday after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina vowed to hunt down those responsible.
Proprietors Bazlus Samad and Mahmudur Rahman Tapash were detained soon after midnight while Aminul Islam, owner of two factories based in the doomed building, was arrested Saturday night, police told AFP.
They faced preliminary charges of causing death by negligence, they said
Five factories were based in the complex at Savar, just outside Dhaka.
Countrywide search
The government has also launched a massive search for owners of two other factories and the overall proprietor of the complex, reportedly a ruling party official, after a minister alleged he built the compound without permits.
The local government deputy minister, Jahangir Kabir, identified the compound owner as Sohel Rana as police reported the man had gone into hiding.
Senior investigating officer Kaiser Matubbor said two municipal engineers who gave the building the all-clear after an inspection on Tuesday were also arrested and could face charges of death due to negligence.
Survivors said the complex developed cracks Tuesday, but bosses ordered staff to return to the production lines.
Deputy administrator of Dhaka district Zillur Rahman Chowdhury told AFP that the “death toll is now 363″, with more than 2,400 people rescued alive since Wednesday.
Hundreds of relatives of missing workers massed at the site to watch as bodies were pulled from the debris and laid on a school ground for identification.
“Please give my daughter dead or alive. Her two year-old daughter cries all the time to see her mom,” said a woman holding photo of her child.
“It’s five days we have been here. We’ve been to every hospital. But she was not there,” said.
There is no official figure of the number of people still missing.
As the cranes prepared to get to work, hope was turning to anger amid criticism of the slow pace of efforts, with some experts decrying a lack of coordination in the operation.
“I’ve been here since Wednesday. We still don’t know what happened to my aunt and sister-in-law,” said Harunur Rashid, clutching photos of his relatives.
“There are so many people, yet too little work,” he said.
With many of Bangladesh’s 4,500 factories shut due to protests, bosses declared Saturday and Sunday a holiday.
Several thousand garment workers protested on Saturday near the disaster site but they were dispersed by police firing rubber bullets and tear gas.
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Glad all is well!! Wouldn’t like a case of the Christmas fear on that plane..
When I was flying home for Christmas this time last year and waiting to board the plane, I was looking out the terminal window and decided to Wikipedia the model of the plane I was about to fly on, read through its details and then got to the “Incidents” section, decided to keep on reading through all the “incidents”. I consider myself a very comfortable flyer normally but my god that flight was horrendous.. Thought the plane was done for about 50 times, the women next to me must have though I was about to hijack the plane I was so fidgety the entire flight. So a good tip for everyone flying home, don’t look up the crash history of the plane your about to fly on!
I am flying home tomorrow from Edinburgh to Cork on the same model as the one above that caught fire. It’s becoming tradition at this stage to scare myself before the flight. Hello airport bar.
What type of plane was it ?
ATR 72 i believe
It’s a Bombarider Q400
That’s the one Gary. Enjoy the read Tony.
Sorry its a de Havilland Canada DHC-8-402 Q400 not a ATR 72
The one in the story is a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400
Spot on Seanie
@Patrick. What kind of bird was it you flew on? Jon Snow believes that just because an Airbus A320 was in a crash it does not mean the A320 is an unsafe aircraft, it might mean that the a320 in question was very old, had poor maintenance, flying somewhere in sub saharan africa were there are no air safety regulations.
Regularly did Edinburgh Cork route this year too. Like a flying matchbox. Very susceptible to turbulence. Great Craic ha
Ah, Happy days then.
You know nothing Jon Snow..
(ATR 72)
I know somewhat Lord Bateman. May the 7 watch over you.
Sound and you too bud
Valium!!!
Patrick you will not be flying to Cork from Edinburgh on the same type of aircraft.
Indeed we call,then flying washing machines , they vibrate and jump around the sky as small planes do and it’s real flying . We flew into cork on one of them yokes and hit wind sheer and boy did that pilot swing it about so that for the last few 100 feet I could see all the way up the runway from my seat at the back of the plane and the pilot was way over to my right , and at last minute squared it off on the runway . To say I was a bit excited would be not exaggerating and I fly regularly but on bigger stuff. Remember we are only 100 years from doing a hop skip and a jump on a cloth covered latice work plane , now we have bars , showers so we are doing well .
‘Because there was no chute’. It’s 3 feet off the ground ffs….
Evacuating a couple of hundred people out of a tin can in a couple of minutes is no easy feat, no matter how close you are to the ground.
While true, this aircraft was a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 which can carry in the largest version only 86 people.
Neal, it’s not a large jet. It’s a Dash 8 Q400 which can take 78 passengers. If it wasn’t possible to evacuate the plane safely, then the plane wouldn’t be allowed to fly in the EU.
This Mark
Engine fire, cut off power to engine, put out fire in engine, call for emergency landing, land plane on one engine. No problem to pilots they train for this and it’s an automatic reaction. Very scary for passengers though. Big problem for planes is not being to identify source of cabin smoke
Sorcery
Engineering Jon Snow. Designed to fly with one engine out. Flying with 2 engines out – now that’s sorcery. Unless it’s a 4 engined aircraft……then we’re back to engineering.
Blood magic is what it is. Jon Snow says NO!
Well done to the Pilot’s – anyone that call them flying bus drivers is an idiot.
Who flys a purple private plan
Dirk Diggler that’s who !
I’ve flown flyby several times and ive never enjoyed it. The planes are always the propeller ones and everything rattles so much, you start wondering is it safe. There’s no chute as they are so close to the ground, there’s only 2 steps to the plane.
That’s because their fleet are made of mostly turboprops. The fact they have propellors doesn’t mean the aircraft themselves are old WWII aircraft. In fact their fleet is a lot younger than most airlines you’ve probably flown with. Props are inherently noisier but the inner engine workings are the exact same as jet engine. They’re used by airlines,like Flybe, because of their fuel efficiency on the type of routes they operate.
The majority of their fleet is the Dash 8 which is a prop. They have a few jets but they are rarely used on routes to Ireland. They are not old, they are newer than most aircraft that other airlines have, and they are louder because of the propeller.
Well I won’t fly with them again
I never had an on time flight, there was always engine problems and the worse one was being delayed by 8 hours on Christmas eve
So all several times you travelled with them they had engine problems? Are you sure you’re not cursed?
If there is always engine problems for you, then you must be cursed! It is rare for engine failures to happen now with the modern engines, it was common in the past, which is one of the reasons why nearly all aircraft had 3 or 4 engines. As for the delay, it could have been caused by weather, and could happen any airline or aircraft.
Hmm… actually these aircraft would be more susceptible to weather delays then say an A320 so he could have a point.
Wonderful article to read whilst on the way to the airport to fly home for Christmas!!
Why land at an airport further away when you are on fire??
Look at the map shown, it is way closer to Belfast than any other airport.
There’s a range of reasons. The runway at Belfast City airport is a lot shorter than Aldergrove. Aldergrove is only a matter of minutes away anyway. Some aircraft types need to be configured differently for landing in the event of an engine shut down. This is to reduce the drag as the aircraft now has half the thrust available. This reduction in drag will increase the landing distance especially if the runway is wet and the aircraft is heavy. This may be one reason why the crew opted for Aldergrove.
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