Bangladesh factory collapse kill 7, dozens still trapped

At least seven workers were killed and dozens more are feared trapped after the roof of a half-built cement factory collapsed in southern Bangladesh on Thursday, police and rescuers said. More than 90 staff were on the site in the port town of Mongla when the structure started to cave during the afternoon, trapping scores under a rubble of newly mixed concrete and steel, they said. Soldiers and emergency personnel used two massive cranes and steel cutters to clear some debris, rescuing about a dozen people. It was unclear how many people were still trapped under the rubble of the factory warehouse.

The number of injured is 53 including at least six whose conditions are critical…Still we have to dig carefully as there is still a chance that some people may still be alive.

Local police chief Jahedur Rahman

the cement factory was owned by Sena Kalyan Sangstha, a company run by the Bangladesh Army. The building contractor was a Chinese firm called China National Building Material (CNBM). Buildings frequently collapse in Bangladesh owing largely to widespread use of shoddy building materials and a failure to abide by proper engineering and construction rules. In April 2013 a nine-storey garment factory complex collapsed just outside the capital Dhaka leaving at least 1,138 people dead.

Asia-Pacific Bangladesh