Some 100 bodies were recovered from the debris of the building that collapsed near Savar bus stand on the outskirts of the capital on Wednesday morning.
Of the bodies, many were taken to Enam Medical College Hospital while the rest to different local hospitals and clinics, but the victims could not yet be identified. “I’ve received 100 bodies and sent those to various hospitals and clinics till 4:45pm,” Wahiduzzaman, OC DB (Dhaka district) told UNB.
He said at least 200 injured people rescued from the rubbles of the crashed buildings were admitted to different local hospitals and clinics in critical conditions.
But Health Secretary MM Neazuddin told reporters that 76 bodies have so far been recovered from the debris of the collapsed building.
Meanwhile, the government announced one day mourning for Thursday when the national flag fly at half-mast atop all government and semi-government offices.
Witnesses said the building, ‘Rana Plaza’, collapsed all of a sudden after a big bang around 9.00am.
Instructed by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, four rescued teams of Bangladesh Army along with a medical team rushed to the spot and were carrying out the rescue operation with the help of local administration, said PMs’ press secretary Abul Kalam Azad.
Local fire service personnel and police were also conducting rescue operation till filing of the report around 16:40 pm.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minster expressed profound shock at the loss of lives in the building crash and directed the administration to ensure the proper medical treatment of the injured as quickly as possible.
The premier also urged the opposition leader to withdraw their ongoing hartal for the smooth rescue operation in the collapsed building and sending the injured to hospitals.
Following the building collapse, the BNP-led 18-party alliance, however, called its countrywide hartal programme off, which was supposed to end at 6pm today.
BNP standing committee member MK Anwar came up with the announcement at a press briefing at BNP’s Nayapaltan central office around 2:30PM.
The building housed two garment factories and 300 shops from its second to eighth floors.
There remained parked some 100 vehicles in its garage on the ground floor during the tragic incident, witnesses and survivors said.
Meanwhile, a survivor of the tragic incident, Nur Islam, 35, who was working as a cutting staff at New Web Button Ltd on the 3rd floor of the building told the correspondent that the building started crashing with a big bang around 8.45 am.
After the incident, Nur Islam said he had somehow managed to come out through the staircase breaking grills and glasses on the second floor before it collapsed. Apart from the New Web Button Ltd, there was another RMG factory in the building, Eather Text Ltd.
He also informed that the local mayor and the TNO visited the building on Tuesday morning following the news that it had developed some cracks.
Source: UNB Connect
