Bangladesh building collapse kills 18

DHAKA – Rescuers searched frantically yesterday for anyone still trapped after a five-storey building collapsed in the Bangladesh capital while undergoing unauthorised renovation, killing 18 and injuring 45.

Parliament meanwhile passed a new law authorising stiff jail terms for illegal construction. “We are hopeful some people may still be alive under the rubble as there are some pockets inside,” Brigadier General Nizam Ahmed, head of the rescue operation, told AFP.”We are giving oxygen through the holes, hoping that people who are still alive don’t die of suffocation.We are conducting operations carefully.”However, a senior fire official said nothing was heard yesterday from within the ruins.”Noises from inside the rubble could still be heard Saturday but this morning there was no cry for help,” said Amzad Hossain, assistant director of the Dhaka fire department.The 1960s-era building whose upper floors previously housed a garment factory collapsed Saturday morning.Armed with cranes and bulldozers, some 300 army engineers and firemen searched through tonnes of rubble yesterday for construction workers and tenants who may still be alive.Nine bodies were pulled from the debris and nine died in hospital, said army Captain Manjur, adding that 45 injured were admitted to two hospitals.General Ahmed said it may take at least four days to search the 20 000-square-foot building.It housed street-level shops and small offices while labourers worked to turn several upper floors into a private 500-bed hospital.As the floors of the building pancaked, concrete fell onto the footpath and dozens of adjacent shanties, injuring several people and trapping more than a dozen, said Hossain.Fire brigade officers have dug through the third floor of the building and are hopeful they can reach the ground floor within a day.A senior works ministry official, Iqbaluddin Ahmed, said the building owner did not have permission to convert it into a hospital.Yesterday parliament passed a new law stipulating up to seven years’ jail for any illegal construction.”The national parliament passed the Building Construction Amendment Act 2006 this afternoon,” said spokesman Abdul Halim.He could not say if the bill had been rushed through following the tragedy.”Some areas in the country are earthquake-prone and it is very essential to follow proper construction rules for buildings in these areas,” said Works Minister Mirza Abbas.Bangladesh has been witnessing a construction boom over the past decade with hundreds of new high-rise buildings that have transformed the skyline.Shahidul Islam, a senior Dhaka police detective, said they have raided the residence and office of the building’s owner, Deen Mohammad, but did not find him.Mohammad also owns a private bank and other companies in the steel, real estate, leasing and garment industries.The Phoenix Building collapse was the second disaster to strike the impoverished South Asian nation in two days.Late on Thursday 52 people were killed and more than 100 injured after fire swept through a textile factory in the southeastern port city of Chittagong.Officials said the blaze, which workers were unable to flee because factory bosses had locked the doors to prevent theft, was the worst industrial fire tragedy in Bangladesh’s history.- Nampa-AFP”We are hopeful some people may still be alive under the rubble as there are some pockets inside,” Brigadier General Nizam Ahmed, head of the rescue operation, told AFP.”We are giving oxygen through the holes, hoping that people who are still alive don’t die of suffocation.We are conducting operations carefully.”However, a senior fire official said nothing was heard yesterday from within the ruins.”Noises from inside the rubble could still be heard Saturday but this morning there was no cry for help,” said Amzad Hossain, assistant director of the Dhaka fire department.The 1960s-era building whose upper floors previously housed a garment factory collapsed Saturday morning.Armed with cranes and bulldozers, some 300 army engineers and firemen searched through tonnes of rubble yesterday for construction workers and tenants who may still be alive.Nine bodies were pulled from the debris and nine died in hospital, said army Captain Manjur, adding that 45 injured were admitted to two hospitals.General Ahmed said it may take at least four days to search the 20 000-square-foot building.It housed street-level shops and small offices while labourers worked to turn several upper floors into a private 500-bed hospital.As the floors of the building pancaked, concrete fell onto the footpath and dozens of adjacent shanties, injuring several people and trapping more than a dozen, said Hossain.Fire brigade officers have dug through the third floor of the building and are hopeful they can reach the ground floor within a day.A senior works ministry official, Iqbaluddin Ahmed, said the building owner did not have permission to convert it into a hospital.Yesterday parliament passed a new law stipulating up to seven years’ jail for any illegal construction.”The national parliament passed the Building Construction Amendment Act 2006 this afternoon,” said spokesman Abdul Halim.He could not say if the bill had been rushed through following the tragedy.”Some areas in the country are earthquake-prone and it is very essential to follow proper construction rules for buildings in these areas,” said Works Minister Mirza Abbas.Bangladesh has been witnessing a construction boom over the past decade with hundreds of new high-rise buildings that have transformed the skyline.Shahidul Islam, a senior Dhaka police detective, said they have raided the residence and office of the building’s owner, Deen Mohammad, but did not find him.Mohammad also owns a private bank and other companies in the steel, real estate, leasing and garment industries.The Phoenix Building collapse was the second disaster to strike the impoverished South Asian nation in two days.Late on Thursday 52 people were killed and more than 100 injured after fire swept through a textile factory in the southeastern port city of Chittagong.Officials said the blaze, which workers were unable to flee because factory bosses had locked the doors to prevent theft, was the worst industrial fire tragedy in Bangladesh’s history.- Nampa-AFP