SAVAR, Bangladesh // With deep cracks visible in the walls, police had ordered the building to be evacuated the day before its deadly collapse - but clothing factories flouted the order and told more than 2,000 people to go inside and keep working, officials said yesterday.
More than 200 people died when a huge section of the eight-storey Rana Plaza crumbled into a pile of concrete slabs on Wednesday.
The disaster, in the Dhaka suburb of Savar, came less than five months after a blaze at a clothing factory in Ashulia, another suburb, killed 112 people.
The tragedies have underscored the unsafe conditions faced by those who work in Bangladesh's garment industry making clothes for well-known brands worn around the world. Some of the companies in the building that collapsed said their customers included retail giants such as Wal-Mart.
Hundreds of rescuers, some crawling through the maze of rubble in search of survivors and corpses, worked through the night on Wednesday and into yesterday amid the cries of the trapped and the wails of relatives gathered outside the building, which housed several clothing factories and a handful of other companies.
Dozens of workers were found alive in the ruins yesterday, a rare success for rescuers who have pulled out 250 bodies.
An army spokesman initially announced that 40 survivors had been discovered together in a room, but the figure was revised to 24.
"The death toll is now 250," said Moshiuddowla Reza, a senior police officer from Dhaka district.
More bodies were being recovered and most of those who had died were women who worked in the clothing factories, he added.
After the cracks were reported on Tuesday, managers of a local bank that had an office in the building evacuated their workers.
But the garment factories ignored the instructions of the local industrial police and told their employees to go inside and keep working, said Mostafizur Rahman, a director of that paramilitary police force.
The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association had also asked the factories to suspend production on Wednesday morning, just hours before the collapse.
"After we got the crack reports, we asked them to suspend work until further examination, but they did not pay heed," said Atiqul Islam, the group's president.
The garment manufacturers' group said the factories in the building employed 3,122 workers, but it was not clear how many had been in the building when it collapsed.
The junior minister for home affairs, Shamsul Haque, said that 2,000 people had been rescued by yesterday morning.
Dozens of bodies, their faces covered, were laid out beside a school for their families to identify them.
Thousands of relatives gathered outside the building, waiting for news, as thousands of workers from nearby clothing factories took to the streets across the industrial zone in protest.
Abdur Rahim, an employee who worked on the fifth floor, said a factory manager had given assurances that the cracks in the building were not a cause for concern, so employees went inside.
"After about an hour or so, the building collapsed suddenly," Mr Rahim said. The next thing he knew, he was waking up outside.
During a visit to the site, the home minister, Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, said the building had violated construction codes and that "the culprits would be punished".
Abdul Halim, an official with the engineering department in Savar, said the owner was given permission for a five-storey building but had added three storeys illegally.
The local police chief, Mohammed Asaduzzaman, said police and the government's Capital Development Authority had filed separate cases of negligence against the building's owner.
Habibur Rahman, the police superintendent of Dhaka district, identified the owner of the building as Mohammed Sohel Rana, a local leader of the ruling Awami League party's youth front. Mr Rahman said police were also looking for the owners of the garment factories.
The collapse was even deadlier than the Tazreen factory fire in November that drew international attention to working conditions in Bangladesh's US$20 billion [Dh73.46bn] clothing industry.
That building had lacked emergency exits, and its owner said only three floors of the eight-storey building were built legally. Survivors said gates were locked and managers told them to go back to work after the fire alarm went off.
Bangladesh has about 4,000 garment factories and exports clothes to leading western retailers. The industry wields vast power in the South Asian nation.
* Associated Press, with additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
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Cricket World Cup League Two
Oman, UAE, Namibia
Al Amerat, Muscat
Results
Oman beat UAE by five wickets
UAE beat Namibia by eight runs
Fixtures
Wednesday January 8 –Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 – Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 – UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
Important questions to consider
1. Where on the plane does my pet travel?
There are different types of travel available for pets:
- Manifest cargo
- Excess luggage in the hold
- Excess luggage in the cabin
Each option is safe. The feasibility of each option is based on the size and breed of your pet, the airline they are traveling on and country they are travelling to.
2. What is the difference between my pet traveling as manifest cargo or as excess luggage?
If traveling as manifest cargo, your pet is traveling in the front hold of the plane and can travel with or without you being on the same plane. The cost of your pets travel is based on volumetric weight, in other words, the size of their travel crate.
If traveling as excess luggage, your pet will be in the rear hold of the plane and must be traveling under the ticket of a human passenger. The cost of your pets travel is based on the actual (combined) weight of your pet in their crate.
3. What happens when my pet arrives in the country they are traveling to?
As soon as the flight arrives, your pet will be taken from the plane straight to the airport terminal.
If your pet is traveling as excess luggage, they will taken to the oversized luggage area in the arrival hall. Once you clear passport control, you will be able to collect them at the same time as your normal luggage. As you exit the airport via the ‘something to declare’ customs channel you will be asked to present your pets travel paperwork to the customs official and / or the vet on duty.
If your pet is traveling as manifest cargo, they will be taken to the Animal Reception Centre. There, their documentation will be reviewed by the staff of the ARC to ensure all is in order. At the same time, relevant customs formalities will be completed by staff based at the arriving airport.
4. How long does the travel paperwork and other travel preparations take?
This depends entirely on the location that your pet is traveling to. Your pet relocation compnay will provide you with an accurate timeline of how long the relevant preparations will take and at what point in the process the various steps must be taken.
In some cases they can get your pet ‘travel ready’ in a few days. In others it can be up to six months or more.
5. What vaccinations does my pet need to travel?
Regardless of where your pet is traveling, they will need certain vaccinations. The exact vaccinations they need are entirely dependent on the location they are traveling to. The one vaccination that is mandatory for every country your pet may travel to is a rabies vaccination.
Other vaccinations may also be necessary. These will be advised to you as relevant. In every situation, it is essential to keep your vaccinations current and to not miss a due date, even by one day. To do so could severely hinder your pets travel plans.
Source: Pawsome Pets UAE
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
MATCH INFO
New Zealand 176-8 (20 ovs)
England 155 (19.5 ovs)
New Zealand win by 21 runs
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