Bangladesh building collapse death toll passes 650: army

DHAKA: The death toll from Bangladesh's worst industrial disaster surpassed 650 Monday after dozens of bodies were pulled from the wreckage of a nine-storey building housing garment factories, the army said.

Major Manzur Elahi of the army control room, which was set up to coordinate the rescue operation following the disaster last month, told that recovery efforts had gathered pace and the "death toll now stands at 654".

"The toll is expected to rise further," he said.

The building, which housed five garment factories, collapsed near the capital Dhaka on April 24, trapping more than 3,000 people. Some 2,437 people have been rescued, Elahi said.

Hundreds of distraught relatives gathered at the site on the 12th day, as cranes and bulldozers cut through a mountain of concrete and mangled steel.

Officials said the bodies pulled out have missing limbs in some cases or have decomposed, delaying identification. They identified only a handful of them by their mobile phones that were found in their pockets or factory identity cards.

Military rescuer Major Delwar Hossain late Sunday told the stench at the site suggested more corpses were trapped under the rubble, forcing search teams from the army and fire services to wear masks.

"The foul odour is so strong you cannot work there without wearing masks and using air fresheners," Hossain said.

Preliminary findings of a government probe have blamed vibrations by four giant generators on the compound's upper floors for triggering the collapse.

Police have arrested 12 people including the building's owner Sohel Rana and four garment factory owners for forcing people to work on April 24, even though cracks appeared in the structure the previous day.