No-one knows how many are trapped

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In the worst case of building collapse in the country, rescuers have so far pulled alive more than 2,000 people out of the debris of the Rana Plaza in Savar where the death toll has swelled to 231.

 

Fire Brigade and Civil Defence’s Director General Ali Ahmed Khan said the nine-storey building near the Savar Bus Stand had more than 3,000 people working in five readymade garment factories on Wednesday morning when it came crushing down with heaps of concrete and steel.

Neither Khan nor other rescuers could confirm the number of people still trapped inside the building.

A temporary control room has been set up near the Savar Bus Stand to provide information to the distraught families. “Two-hundred and thirty-one dead bodies have been brought out until 6:50pm,” Savar Police Station Sub-Inspector Saiful Islam said.

As many as 170 bodies have been handed over to relatives, he said.

Thousands of people continue to throng the site since the building collapsed and are complaining of slow pace of rescue efforts.

General Officer Commanding (GOC) Major General Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardi of the 9th Infantry Division, which heads the rescue operation for the second day, said all measures were being taken to rescue those still stuck inside the building. He added a total of 1,100 trained army personnel were taking part in the salvage efforts.

Apart from the Army, Fire Service, Civil Defence and BGB members are also carrying out the recovery. Local people of Savar remained active from the very beginning to pull out corpses and people from inside the concrete piles.

ISPR Director Shahinur Islam said,” Our prime concern is to pull out people alive from the site. But we will recover them all.”

Responding to the complaint about the slow pace of work, he said,”The Army has the technology to remove slabs from the building using cranes. But we are not doing that to save those trapped inside.’

Like Wednesday, the rescuers were drilling concrete slabs to rescue more people on Thursday. Water and food were being supplied through the holes.

The rescuers have been talking about continuing their efforts unless each of those trapped was rescued.