Also Wednesday, the European Union’s delegation to Bangladesh urged the government to “act immediately” to improve working conditions. Authorities said the government had closed 18 garment factories in recent days for failing to meet work and safety standards.
The police said 803 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage of the eight-story Rana Plaza building by late afternoon and more were expected as salvage work continued.
There is no clear indication of how many bodies remain trapped in the debris because the exact number of people inside the building at the time of the collapse is unknown. More than 2,500 people were rescued alive.
Maj. Gen. Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, a top military official in the area, said the operation to recover bodies from the tangle of wreckage could continue for two to three more days. After hundreds of garment workers protested on Tuesday for compensation, the authorities began disbursing salaries and other benefits on Wednesday.
About 2,000 people gathered at a military athletic field in Savar, the Dhaka suburb where the collapse took place, to receive their salaries, but the process was slow because many had no identity cards, said Faruk Hossain, an inspector for the Industrial Police. He said factory supervisors were helping to identify workers who did not have ID cards or other proof that they were employed by the five factories.
The workers, many of whom made little more than the national minimum wage of about $38 per month, are demanding at least four months’ salary.
A local government administrator, Yousuf Harun, has said no salary remained unpaid except for in April, and there was a deal for the workers to receive an additional three months’ pay.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/09/world/asia/death-toll-passes-800-in-bangladesh-disaster.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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