Family members hold up portraits of missing relatives as they march demanding the wages of missing workers and the death sentence for the building owner, to the nine-storey building collapse in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka, yesterday.

AFP/Dhaka

Bangladesh’s army wrapped up its search yesterday for bodies in a collapsed nine-storey building outside the capital as dozens of people were still massed at the site for news of their missing relatives.
Clutching laminated photos of their wives or sisters or daughters, the relatives then queued at a government office to register the names of the missing as the authorities fenced off the site in the town of Savar.
“We’re listing the names of missing people. We’ve opened a control room for them,” government administrator of the district Kamrul Hasan Molla said, adding there were “around 100 people” seeking news of their relatives.
The army said there was no chance of finding any more bodies in the ruins of the former Rana Plaza complex which imploded on April 24.
A total of 1,127 people are now known to have died in the collapse, making it one of the world’s deadliest industrial disasters.
Molla said the missing people could be among the 234 who have been buried at a government graveyard after their bodies became so decomposed that they could not be identified.
“We have collected DNA profiles of those who we have buried. We’ll match the DNA with the relatives,” he said.
At least 834 bodies have been handed over to relatives after they were identified, many by their mobile phones which were found in their pockets or identity cards hanging around their neck.
“Fifty-nine more bodies are being kept in a mortuary,” he added.
Police have arrested 12 people over the tragedy, including the owner of the building and four factory owners who are accused of forcing staff to return to work a day after cracks emerged in the structure, prompting evacuation.
Authorities say a total of 2,438 people were rescued from the building, including an 18-year-old called Reshma who was pulled from the rubble 17 days after the disaster.

Disaster site to become rehabilitation  centre: minister


Bangladesh plans to take over the site of the collapsed nine-storey building which killed 1,127 people and convert it into a rehabilitation centre for the victims, a minister said yesterday.
“Our prime minister (Sheikh Hasina) wants this place to be taken over by the government and convert it to such a system that it can rehabilitate those who have died here or are affected,” deputy minister for local government Jahangir Kabir Nanak told reporters.
He made the comments after the army concluded the search for the dead at the doomed building 20 days after what was known as Rana Plaza collapsed outside the country’s capital Dhaka.
Violating almost every construction law, the structure imploded on April 24, trapping garment workers who were on shift in the building at the time.
Nearly 2,500 people were pulled out alive by hundreds of army, fire service and volunteer rescue workers.
Authorities have arrested the owner of the building, Sohel Rana, a low-level ruling party official, after a massive man-hunt. He has been charged with causing death due to negligence and violating building laws.
The Bangladesh high court has also ordered freezing of Rana’s bank accounts and transfer of his properties.