Dhaka, April 29 (IANS) A pall of gloom descended upon hundreds of rescuers as the body of a woman worker was retrieved Monday evening, nearly 127 hours after Bangladesh’s worst industrial tragedy.
Six days into the collapse of the eight-storey building that left nearly 400 dead, rescuers found the young female garment worker, Shahina, reports Xinhua.
Wails and cries rent the air at Savar as the body of Shahina, whose about 110-hour battle for survival had touched not merely rescuers but the nation, was pulled out of the collapsed building.
Defying the stench of decaying bodies which filled the air around the ruins of Rana Plaza, the rescuers relentlessly worked for four hours Sunday evening to pull out alive Shahina, mother of a three-year old boy.
But the entire efforts went in vain due to a fire that broke out when a rescuer was cutting a steel bar to pull her out.
“Sometime ago we recovered her body,” fire official Mohammad Mahbub told Xinhua. “We’re all so saddened.”
Rescuers, many of whom were seen weeping, think she died after inhaling smoke Monday.
“We’ve failed to rescue her alive despite the whole-hearted efforts,” said Brigadier General Ali Ahmed Khan, chief of the fire brigade.
“Sir, please pull out me, I’ve a three-year old boy,” teary-eyed fire service man Khair quoted Shahina as saying.
Until Sunday night, Bangladesh authorities refrained from deploying heavy machinery amid concern that tearing chunks from the building might jeopardize the safety of anyone clinging to life beneath the sandwiched floors of the building, which crumbled like a pack of cards Wednesday.
Following the detection of cracks just one day before the accident, the workers were evacuated and the garments authorities declared a leave for Tuesday.
But officials of the factories forced the workers to return to workplaces in the building next morning.
Workers alleged that the owners of the five factories, many of whom have been arrested, forced them to join their respective workplaces Wednesday.
