1. Hopes fading, flickering
Use of heavy equipment stalled for hours as one more pulled out alive
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| Dolly cries, holding the photo of her missing brother as hope starts to fade on day five of the rescue operations yesterday at the Rana Plaza collapse site in Savar. Her brother used to work in one of the garment factories Rana Plaza housed. Photo: Sk Enamul Haq |
The stench of decaying bodies filled the air around the ruins of Rana Plaza with the death toll reaching 381 yesterday, the fifth day into the building’s collapse.
Rescuers refrained from employing heavy equipment to remove the debris after confirming that four people — three men and a woman named Shahana — were still alive under the wreckage.
But the efforts to rescue Shahana were hindered due to a fire that broke out around 10:00pm when a rescuer was cutting a steel bar to pull her out, Shahinul Islam, director of Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), told reporters at around 11:00pm.
The rescuers had to retreat from the part of the wreckage where the fire broke out. The fire-fighters doused the flames within 10 minutes.
Earlier, Shahana was provided with food, water and oxygen after the rescuers located her. But it was not possible to rescue her, as part of her body got stuck in the wreckage, said Shahinul.
“We don’t know her condition, but pray for a miracle,” he said.
Shahana, who is from Kushtia, is the mother of a one-and-a-half year old boy.
The rescuers started using heavy equipment last night to remove the ruins of Rana Plaza, nearly 110 hours after its collapse.
Two hydraulic cranes that were brought to the site a few days ago were put to use around 11.45pm, as the chances of finding more survivors under the wreckage became very slim, said Brig Gen Azmal Kabir of army engineering core.
“We will carry out this operation very carefully so that we can rescue more survivors if there are any,” he told reporters.
One of the cranes is being used for cutting pillars and the other for removing them.
Meanwhile, another person was pulled out of the wreckage alive around 12:00noon, taking the number of people rescued so far to 2,437.
The survivor, QMA Sadique, a quality inspector of a garment factory, was working on the second floor when the building collapsed.
Rana Plaza that housed five readymade garment factories caved in on Wednesday. The factory owners forced several thousand workers to return to work though cracks had appeared in the building’s pillars the previous day.
Rescuers fear that many dead are still trapped in the ruins of the nine-storey building.
Earlier, an army officer involved in the rescue operation said, “The four people are trapped on the third floor, around 40 feet away from a tunnel we dug on the collapsed building. It was almost impossible for an average person to crawl through the two by two feet opening. We had to find a lanky rescue worker to do the job.”
“Intense heat and the stench of decaying bodies made conditions unbearable inside the tunnel. The rescuer took with him an oxygen pipe, biscuits and water for the trapped persons. At one point, a huge beam obstructed him. There was no way through.”
“On the other side of the beam, he could hear the voices of the men and the woman. He desperately looked for a small opening to slip through the things he carried with him. He then found a small hole under the beam, and he slipped the oxygen pipe, biscuits and water through it.”
By the evening, the hope of rescuing all of them alive dimmed, as only the female survivor could communicate with the rescuers.
In the afternoon, another army officer said the rescue team was bringing cutters to slice the top floor into small slabs. “We will use our huge cranes to remove them one by one.”
So far the rescuers had been using small tools, for fear the use of heavy machines might lead to further collapse.
News Link: Hopes fading, flickering
2. Bangladesh: UK rescue aid rejected after Dhaka factory collapse
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| Bangladesh's ministries rejected help offers because they feared that accepting aid would damage national pride Photo: AP |
More than 370 people died when the eight-story Rana Plaza building crumbled into a vast pile of rubble on Wednesday. Teams of ill-equipped local rescuers have been sifting through mountains of wreckage for survivors.
Foreign offers to provide experienced disaster rescue teams, which could potentially have saved more lives, were turned down last week, diplomatic sources said.
Documents seen by The Daily Telegraph indicate both Bangladesh's foreign and home ministries rejected the offers because they feared that accepting aid would damage national pride. The documents disclose a diplomatic campaign to persuade Bangladeshi officials to accept the assistance, and "face-saving" suggestions on keeping it low-key to avoid offending Bangladeshi sensitivities.
When United Nations officials became aware of the large numbers of people trapped under the rubble, consultations were held with Western diplomats to assess whether Bangladesh had the wherewithal to mount an effective rescue operation. They decided it did not, and approached several governments, including Britain's, to identify which could send teams of rescuers and heavy lifting equipment.
"The UN has underlined that the needed search and rescue support, including the UK contribution, is available from the international community, but this has been rejected," one official said.
Instead, the rescue operation relied on local volunteers without protective clothing, many of whom wore plastic sandals. On Saturday,The Daily Telegraph disclosed how doctors delegated a volunteer garment factory worker to amputate the hand of one survivor to allow her to be rescued. Some buried workers have survived in day-time temperatures of 95F (35C) by drinking their own urine.
The government has also been criticised by the relatives of those trapped in the debris for apparently trying to end the rescue mission prematurely. Officials were due to deploy heavy machinery to clear the rubble away last week, having decided survivors would not last more than 72 hours. But after a public backlash they delayed the plan, as more people were pulled out alive and yet more cries from survivors could be heard.
A spokesman for Britain's Department for International Development confirmed it had offered "specialist technical advice" which Bangladesh had rejected.
C.Q.K Mustaq Ahmed, a senior secretary in Bangladesh's Ministry of Home Affairs, said that he had heard that his minister had rejected an offer, but did not know about it directly. "I hear that he said there is no need," Mr Ahmed said.
The owner of the building, Mohammed Sohel Rana, a youth leader of Bangladesh's ruling Awami League, was arrested in Benapole, near the border with India on Sunday. He is accused of encouraging workers to return inside the Rana Plaza despite warnings from engineers it could collapse.
3. Pope Francis urges prayer for Savar victims
More than 370 people died when the eight-story Rana Plaza building crumbled into a vast pile of rubble on Wednesday. Teams of ill-equipped local rescuers have been sifting through mountains of wreckage for survivors.
Foreign offers to provide experienced disaster rescue teams, which could potentially have saved more lives, were turned down last week, diplomatic sources said.
Documents seen by The Daily Telegraph indicate both Bangladesh's foreign and home ministries rejected the offers because they feared that accepting aid would damage national pride. The documents disclose a diplomatic campaign to persuade Bangladeshi officials to accept the assistance, and "face-saving" suggestions on keeping it low-key to avoid offending Bangladeshi sensitivities.
When United Nations officials became aware of the large numbers of people trapped under the rubble, consultations were held with Western diplomats to assess whether Bangladesh had the wherewithal to mount an effective rescue operation. They decided it did not, and approached several governments, including Britain's, to identify which could send teams of rescuers and heavy lifting equipment.
"The UN has underlined that the needed search and rescue support, including the UK contribution, is available from the international community, but this has been rejected," one official said.
Instead, the rescue operation relied on local volunteers without protective clothing, many of whom wore plastic sandals. On Saturday,The Daily Telegraph disclosed how doctors delegated a volunteer garment factory worker to amputate the hand of one survivor to allow her to be rescued. Some buried workers have survived in day-time temperatures of 95F (35C) by drinking their own urine.
The government has also been criticised by the relatives of those trapped in the debris for apparently trying to end the rescue mission prematurely. Officials were due to deploy heavy machinery to clear the rubble away last week, having decided survivors would not last more than 72 hours. But after a public backlash they delayed the plan, as more people were pulled out alive and yet more cries from survivors could be heard.
A spokesman for Britain's Department for International Development confirmed it had offered "specialist technical advice" which Bangladesh had rejected.
C.Q.K Mustaq Ahmed, a senior secretary in Bangladesh's Ministry of Home Affairs, said that he had heard that his minister had rejected an offer, but did not know about it directly. "I hear that he said there is no need," Mr Ahmed said.
The owner of the building, Mohammed Sohel Rana, a youth leader of Bangladesh's ruling Awami League, was arrested in Benapole, near the border with India on Sunday. He is accused of encouraging workers to return inside the Rana Plaza despite warnings from engineers it could collapse.
3. Pope Francis urges prayer for Savar victims
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