261 ‘actually’ missing in Rana Plaza collapse: army

Bangladesh Army, who led the rescue operations at the site of Rana Plaza collapse in Savar, has said 261 people have remained untraced.

The military’s press wing, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Directorate, issued a statement after scrutinising all the lists of ‘actually’ missing in the incident on Sunday.

It came nearly four months after they called off the salvage drive at the site of Bangladesh’s worst-ever factory accident.

The nine-storey Rana Plaza caved in on Apr 24 morning near the Savar Bus Stand with thousands trapped inside.

File Photo

Most of them were women workers employed in the five readymade garment factories operating from the block erected unauthorised.

The ISPR statement added the Bangladesh Army identified those 261 out of reportedly missing 329 people using its own apparatus.

The army abandoned the search for those unaccounted for on May 13 after recovering 1,115 bodies from there.

The rescuers pulled alive 2438 people but 12 of them died later in hospital.

The ISPR said the lists of ‘real’ missing had been sent to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Many people were gathering in front of the collapsed building in search of missing workers even after the Army wrapped up the rescue operation.

Relatives of the untraced workers also demonstrated in Dhaka demanding measures to trace them out.

As many as 234 bodies retrieved from Rana Plaza were buried at Jurain Graveyard.

The ISPR described the measures that the committee, constituted as per a High Court order to pay compensation to the people affected by the collapse, had already taken.

The committee comprised of the Army’s Ninth Infantry Division General Officer Commanding (GOC) and representatives of the relevant departments have been assigned with the task of determining the rates of compensation.

GOC Maj Gen Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy had led the Rana Plaza rescue operations, also carried out by the Fire Service and Civil Defence, RAB and police personnel, Red Crescent members and volunteers.

The statement said the committee met on Aug 29 to determine the compensation rates.

It said committee members Prof MM Akash had been made the chief of the compensation rate fixing sub-committee and Directorate General of Health Services Director (Hospital Services) Prof ABM Abdul Hannan the head of the health condition determining sub-committee.

The two sub-committees have been given until Sept 20 to submit their reports.

The committee will sit again after receiving the reports.