Four more bodies were recovered from the wreckage of collapsed Rana Plaza in Savar since the second phase of rescue operation began Sunday midnight, raising the death toll to 382.Nearly 111 hours after the Rana Plaza collapse, the second phase of rescue operation using heavy equipment started at 12.10 am Monday.
With the recovery of four more bodies from the debris till this afternoon, the death toll from the collapse now stands at 382. So far, nearly 2,444 people rescued alive, and the search for survivors is still going on, said General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Savar Cantonment Major General Chowdhury Hasan Sarwardi.
Of the total bodies, 370 were handed over to the victims’ families.
Talking to UNB, Brigadier General Ajmal Kabir, head of the Engineering Brigade of Bangladesh Army and also the supervisor of the second phase of the rescue operation, said, “From last night, 21-30 hours, we’ve started this phase of operation. It’ll continue till the entire operation is over.”
“We’re using cranes. And we’re cutting the huge slabs from the top and lifting those so as to ensure that no secondary collapse occurs in this collapsed building. That will be a total disaster,” he said.
Ajmal noted that the operation will be time-consuming and painstaking one as well.
Relatives of the missing broke out in tears when the manual rescue operation in the collapsed building was stopped to make ways for the operation with heavy machines.
They are determined not the leave the site without receiving their loved ones dead or alive.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday morning visited the site of the collapsed Rana Plaza and the injured people undergoing treatment at Enam Medical College Hospital at Savar.
The Prime Minister saw for herself the rescue operation at the site around 9.35 am and talked to the people concerned there and inquired about the rescue works.
She asked them to complete the rescue operation with utmost sincerity at the complex that collapsed on Wednesday morning, causing huge casualties.
Health Minister ABM Ruhul Haque, State Minister for Home Affairs Shamsul Haque Tuku and some leaders of the ruling Awami League accompanied the premier during the visit.
The five-member Home ministry inquiry committee, formed to investigate the Savar tragedy, visited the spot today and talked to local people.
Earlier, on Sunday, the committee in its preliminary investigation, found the owners of Rana Plaza and the garment factories housed in the huge complex responsible for the dreadful incident. UNB
