(Update3) Bangladesh Garment Factory Collapsed Building / death toll 1,127 and garment workers allowed to form trade unions

Nearly three weeks after a Bangladesh garment-factory building collapsed, the search for the dead ended Monday at the site of the worst disaster in the history of the global garment industry. The death toll: 1,127.

The collapse of the Rana Plaza building focused worldwide attention on the hazardous conditions in Bangladesh’s low-cost garment industry and strengthened pressure for reforms.

On Monday, the government said it will begin allowing garment workers to form trade unions without permission from factory owners. Swedish retailing giant H&M and Britain’s Primark Stores also announced they have accepted a safety plan drawn up by labor groups that requires retailers to help pay for factory improvements.

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via Bangladesh collapse search over; death toll 1,127.

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Bangladesh factory collapse toll passes 1,000

The death toll from Bangladesh’s worst industrial accident has passed 1,000 as recovery teams continue to find more bodies in the wreckage.

The eight-storey Rana Plaza factory building near Dhaka collapsed on 24 April with an unknown number inside.

The authorities say about 2,500 people were injured in the accident and 2,437 people were rescued.l

The recovery operation is expected to finish on Friday. The rubble will then be shifted by bulldozers.

On Friday morning, officials said a total of 1,021 bodies had been recovered from the debris of the fallen factory building in Savar. Almost 650 have so far been identified and handed over to families.

Many bodies were decomposed, but could be identified by mobile phones in their pockets or staff passes, Army Captain Shahnewaz Zakaria said, adding that “most are female garment workers”.

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via BBC News – Bangladesh factory collapse toll passes 1,000.

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The death toll for Bangladesh’s worst industrial disaster rose to 782 as the army continued to clear debris at a garment factory building that collapsed last month.

The army’s attempt to recover more bodies from the rubble at Rana Plaza that collapsed on April 24 will continue for at least another week, Mir Rabbi, an army spokesman, said by phone.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association used an emergency fund and has started paying salaries to the survivors and families of the victims of the clothing factories, said Atiqul Islam, president of the grouping. About 700 workers have been paid last night after hundreds of them blocked a highway yesterday demanding compensation.

Garment factories in Bangladesh face increased scrutiny after the collapse of the building and a November fire that claimed 112 lives. The South Asian government, workers, employers and the International Labour Organization agreed to a plan to improve workers rights and safety. The 27-nation European Union is considering action under its trade rules to encourage changes in the nation’s supply-chain operations.

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via Bangladesh Garment Factory Building Collapse Toll Reaches 782 – Bloomberg.

Dozens of people have been found alive in a room in the ruins of a building outside the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, a day after it collapsed.

Bangladeshi television broadcast images of the operation at the site of the collapse in the Savar area, which killed at least 250 people.

It is thought many more people may still be unaccounted for.

Police said the owners of factories in the building had ignored warnings about cracks appearing on Tuesday.

Some 2,000 people were in the Rana Plaza building in Savar, some 30km (20 miles) outside Dhaka, when it collapsed suddenly on Wednesday morning.

Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com

The High Court has summoned the Rana Plaza building owner and senior managers of the factories to appear before judges on 30 April, local media report.

The factory owners are said to have gone into hiding.

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via BBC News – Dhaka building collapse: Dozens found alive in rubble.