Army launches massive rescue operation

Bangladesh Army has launched a massive rescue operation to rescue the people remain alive beneath the rubble of the nine-storey building on Saturday.

The operation was formally launched at about 12.30pm.

The Army has been using modern cranes and excavators in their rescue operation. Their main objective of the operation is to retrieve those who still remain alive in the wreckage.

Rescuers detected 45 more people alive beneath the rubble of the collapsed roofs of nine-storeyed building. They said efforts are going on to rescue those trapped people. Salines and foods have already been sent to them.

Mobarak Hossain, who has been engaged in rescue operation over the last four days, said, `Some 40 people remain alive on the second floor, two on the third floor and three inside a bathroom.`

Some of the people have also become mentally imbalanced.

The death toll from the Savar building collapse rose to 343 as rescue workers recovered 35 more bodies from beneath the rubble of the nine-storey building on Saturday.

Rescue efforts are going on ceaselessly at Savar, some 20 kilometers from the capital Dhaka, on the fourth day today (Saturday) to retrieve the survivors from the wreckage of collapsed building.

Officials said the death toll from the accident reached 343 with the recovery of 25 more bodies till 2.30pm today. Of them, 341 bodies were handed over to their relatives. Besides, the rest of the bodies have been kept at Adhar Chandra High School ground. The injured are being taken to Enam Medical College Hospital at Savar and other hospitals in the capital.

On the other hand, more than 2,520 trapped people have been rescued alive so far with the recovery of more than 100 people during the last ten hours--from 12 midnight to 10am today. Twenty-five more people were recovered alive since early in the morning and all of them are in good condition, hospital sources said.

Rescuers became surprised witnessing that so many people still remain alive in different parts of the wreckage of the collapsed eight-storeyed Rana Plaza building at Savar bus stand. As rescue operation goes on, they are finding many people alive in the mountain of debris.  

The Rana Plaza complex housed factories that made clothes for western companies including the British high street retail chains Primark and Matalan.

Dozens of ambulance have been kept stand-by at the site of the collapsed building. With the rescue of the people alive from the wreckage, they are being taken to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) at Savar.

Besides, heavy equipment including cranes and bulldozers for carrying out rescue operation have been kept ready at the accident site.   

A fire service official said relatives gathered outside the collapsed complex had complained that the rescue work was proceeding too slowly. Crowds clashed with police trying to maintain order and law enforcement personnel fired tear gas in response.

Many of the rescuers, risking their own lives, thrust themselves into certain points on the scene with whatever they had — shovels, hammers and cutters.

Staying and working at the collapsed building site over the last four days, many of the rescuers have become sick as a strong stench of decomposing bodies made the rescue operation more challenging. Many were seen spraying air freshener to get rid of the acrid smell.

Criticism has mounted over the government response to the tragedy. Many analysts have pointed out that the bulk of the rescue effort was being shouldered by volunteers. On Friday, volunteer rescuers were seen holding up hand-written placards requesting electric drills, surgical masks and other rescue equipment.

Additional Police Super Faruq said many people were crowding the building collapse site since the accident happened hampering the rescue operation. "They are coming here as visitors and they have no relatives here. I request them not to come to the site of the accident and let us carrying out the rescue operation smoothly," he said.