Bangladesh Factory Collapse Kills Nearly 100

Dhaka - An eight-storey block housing garment factories and a shopping center collapsed on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital on Wednesday, killing nearly 100 people and injuring hundreds more, officials said.

Fire fighters and army personnel worked frantically through the day at the Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka, to rescue people trapped in the rubble. Television showed young women workers, some apparently semi-conscious, being pulled from the debris.

One fireman told Reuters that about 2,000 people were in the building when the upper floors jolted down on top of each other.

 

 

Bangladesh's booming garment industry has been plagued by fires and other accidents for years, despite a drive to improve safety standards. 

In November last year, 112 workers were killed in a blaze at the Tazreen factory in a nearby industrial suburb.

Buildings in the crowded city of Dhaka are sometimes erected without permission and many do not comply with construction regulations. Dozens died when a garment factory collapsed in the same area eight years ago.