Four arrested as Bangladesh building toll rises to 341

Two factory bosses and two engineers were arrested in Bangladesh today, 72 hours after the collapse of a building where low-cost garments were made for Western brands, as the death toll rose to 341 but many were still being found alive.

The owner of the eight-storey building that fell like a pack of cards around more than 3,000 workers was still on the run. As many as 900 people could still be missing, police said.

Police said two of his relatives had been detained to compel him to hand himself in, and an alert had gone out to airport and border authorities to prevent him from fleeing the country.

Officials said the Rana Plaza, on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, had been built illegally without the correct permits, and the workers were allowed in on Wednesday despite warnings the previous day that it was structurally unsafe.

The owner and managing director of the largest of the five factories in the complex, New Wave Style, surrendered to the country’s garment industry association during the night and they were handed over to police.

The factory, which listed many European and North American retailers as its customers, occupied upper floors of the building that officials said had been added illegally.

“Everyone involved - including the designer, engineer, and builders - will be arrested for putting up this defective building,” junior internal affairs minister Shamsul Huq told reporters.

Anger over the working conditions of Bangladesh’s 3.6 million garment workers - most of whom are women - has grown since the disaster, triggering protests and clashes with police. Hundreds were on the streets again this morning, smashing and burning cars.

Miraculously, people were still being pulled alive from the rubble, seven in all since daybreak today.

Frantic efforts were under way to extract 15 people trapped under the mound of broken concrete who were being supplied with dried food, bottled water and oxygen.

About 2,500 people have been rescued, at least half of them injured, from the remains of the building in the commercial suburb of Savar, about 30 km from Dhaka.

Reuters