A total of 85 more people were also pulled out alive from 1.30am to 8.30pm today from the building that crashed on Wednesday, taking the number of the people rescued so far to 2,361.
Of the bodies, 287 were handed over to their families, said officer-in-charge (Investigation) Aminur Rahman. Besides, 26 unidentified ones were sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital morgue.
Those rescued on Friday included two members of Industrial Police — ASI Mukul and constable Rafiqul Islam. They got trapped inside the building as they had been there on Wednesday morning to inspect it.
Meanwhile, rescuers traced over 100 people alive on the ground floor of the crashed building. The victims were provided with dry food and drinking water. The rescuers hoped that they will be able to pull them out by early Saturday.
Two days after the disastrous collapse of the eight-storey building here, the hope for the rescue of the trapped people is fading fast due to the slow rescue operation.
Locals and relatives of the victims said the rescue operation is getting hampered and delayed for lack of modern equipment.
When asked, Brig Shikdar of Ninth Infantry Division of Savar Cantonment described the lack of modern equipment as the main reason for the slow rescue operation.
The rescuers feared that the number of victims would go up sharply as many people are still remained trapped under the debris for over 60 hours.
However, they were conducting the rescue operation with light equipment as they want to rescue as many people as possible. They said they could not go for using heavy equipment as one can survive for 72 hours in such a situation.
Manny voluntary rescuers joined the Army, police BGB members and firefighters to rescue the trapped people.
Police, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) personnel cordoned off the area in the morning to conduct the rescue operation uninterruptedly.
Garment workers and relatives of the victims engaged in sporadic clashes with the law enforcers alleging delay in the rescue operation, leaving many injured.
The RMG workers also went on the rampage in the capital, Gazipur and Narayangaj and vandalised vehicles demanding capital punishment of Rana Plaza owner Sohel Rana.
BGMEA and MKMEA on Friday decided to keep the production in all readymade garment (RMG) factories closed on Saturday and Sunday for, what they said, ensuring proper treatment and completion of rescue operation successfully.
The ill-constructed building had accommodated at least five garment factories and some 300 shops with nearly 4,000 workers. However, it’s not still clear as to how many workers were at their workplaces on the fateful day.
The building, ‘Rana Plaza’, which developed cracks on Tuesday morning, collapsed all of a sudden after a big bang around 9.00 am on Wednesday.
Many survivors alleged that the owners of their garment factories forced them to go back to work on Wednesday morning against their will.
Five cases were filed on behalf of Labour and Employment Ministry with theLabour Courtagainst the owners of the building and the garment factories housed in the complex.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday ordered the authorities concerned to immediately arrest Rana Plaza owner Sohel Rana and the owners of the five garment factories housed in the collapsed building.
Meanwhile, police arrested five relatives of Sohel Rana.
