The death toll from the disastrous Rana Plaza collapse at Savar reached 514 on Friday evening with the recovery of six more bodies from the ruins of the collapsed building in the last five hours commencing from 3:30 pm.Rescuers retrieved 75 bodies from the wreckage of the collapsed building from 12am till 8:30pm today, said officer-in-charge of Dhaka district Detective Branch (DB) of police Wahiduzzaman.
Of them, 407 bodies were handed over to their families while the rest have been kept at the Savar Adhar Chandra Model High School ground and at the morgues of Dhaka Medical College Hospital and Dhaka Mitford Hospital.
Meanwhile, a pistol with five bullets was recovered on Friday afternoon from the rubble of a building part where the office of Rana Plaza owner Sohel Rana was situated, said OC of Savar Model Police Station Asaduzzaman.
The second phase of the rescue operation using heavy equipment continued for the fourth consecutive day on Friday.
Army, Navy, Air Force, Fire Service and Red Crescent Society personnel are taking part in the second phase rescue operation, which began on Tuesday midnight by using heavy cranes, cameras and trained dog squads.
President Abdul Hamid and Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad visited the site of the collapsed Rana Plaza and the injured undergoing treatment at hospitals.
Earlier on Thursday, General Officer Commanding of the 9th Infantry Division Major General Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy,, who is in charge of coordinating the rescue operation, said so far 2,870 people were pulled out alive or dead from the ruins of the commercial complex.
Of them, 2,437 were rescued alive, he said at a press briefing on Thursday.
The building collapsed on April 24 due to its weak structure.
A good number people were seen waiting in front of the collapsed building on Friday in search of their near and dear ones with their photographs. UNB
