Another engineer arrested over Savar collapse

Detectives have arrested an engineer who supervised the construction work of Savar’s Rana Plaza, which collapsed on Apr 24 and have killed over 430 people so far.

Abdur Razzak was detained at around Thursday noon from Savar’s Shimulia.

Three engineers so far have been detained over the worst-ever industrial disaster in Bangladesh's history. The other two are - Executive Engineer of Savar Municipality Md Imtemam Hossain and Assistant Engineer Md Alam Mia.

Detective Branch of Police Inspector Shaheen Shah Parvez told bdnews24.com: "Engineer Razzak was responsible for supervising the design and construction of Rana Plaza."

"Razzak was also supervising the construction of the 10th floor of it before the nine-storey building collapsed," he said.

The police official, who is also the investigating officer of the cases filed over the building's collapse, said they were hoping to tease out vital information from Razzak.

The rescue operation amidst the rubble of the nine-storey commercial block is still going on. At least 436 people were killed, most of who were readymade garment workers in the five factories in that building.

A day before the collapse, after cracks surfaced in the building Engineer Abdur Razzak had told bdnews24.com: "It is necessary to have the safety of the building evaluate by experts from BUET. Otherwise, major accident might take place."

There are allegations that the construction of multi-storey commercial building built over filled-up wetlands was faulty.

Police have already arrested the building owner, Mohammad Sohel Rana, and the four owners of five garment factories.

Rana's father Abdul Khalek and three associates of Rana were also arrested for involvement.