Death Toll in Bangladesh Building Collapse Tops 500
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Version 0 of 1. SAVAR, Bangladesh — The death toll in the Rana Plaza disaster soared to 517 on Friday, as rescue crews spent a 10th day digging through the rubble and investigators continued to interrogate the building’s owner and others arrested in the case. The collapse of the Rana Plaza building, which housed five clothing factories, is the deadliest disaster in the history of the garment industry, with the death toll likely to keep rising as work crews now use heavy machinery to clear debris from some of the most devastated sections of the building. Thousands of onlookers visit the wreckage daily, including some bearing small posters with photographs of loved ones still unaccounted for. On Friday, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Bangladesh’s home minister, said more arrests were possible in coming days. “This is a case of sheer negligence and sheer arrogance,” Mr. Alamgir said in an interview. “Arrogance on the part of the owner and negligence by the engineers and the local government authorities.” The police have already arrested the building’s owner, Sohel Rana, the owners of four of the factories and three engineers. The mayor of Savar has been suspended for granting permits for the construction of the building. The arrest on Thursday of one of the engineers, Abdur Razzaque Khan, was a surprise, because Mr. Khan had been praised for trying to persuade the owner to close the building a day before it collapsed, warning that it was unsafe. The police initially said they arrested Mr. Khan because they wanted to interrogate him about accusations by Mr. Rana and the factory owners, who had blamed the engineer for reassuring them that the building was not at risk. But on Friday, Mr. Alamgir said the engineer was accused of helping to plan and approve three upper floors of the building that had been added illegally in recent years. Even as work crews continue to look for bodies in the wreckage, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, the country’s finance minister, made ill-timed remarks during a visit to New Delhi, predicting that the disaster would not slow down the country’s garment industry. “The present difficulties, well, I don’t think it is really serious. It’s an accident,” he said, according to The Associated Press. “And the steps that we have taken in order to make sure that it doesn’t happen, they are quite elaborate and I believe that it will be appreciated by all.” |