Two arrested as Bangladesh building toll rises to 325

[dipsydoodle]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Two factory bosses were arrested in Bangladesh on Saturday, 72 hours after the deadly collapse of a building where low-cost garments were made for Western brands, as the death toll rose to 325 and angry workers protested on the streets of the capital.

The owner of the eight-storey building that fell like a pack of cards around more than 3,000 workers was still on the run.

Police said two of his relatives had been detained to compel him to hand himself in, and an alert had gone out to airport and border authorities to prevent him from fleeing the country.

Officials said the Rana Plaza, on the outskirts of the capital, Dhaka, had been built illegally without the correct permits, and the workers were allowed in on Wednesday despite warnings the previous day that it was structurally unsafe.

Read more: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/04/27/uk-bangladesh-building-idUKBRE93N06U20130427

---

Protests spread in Bangladesh amid arrests

SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) -- Police in Bangladesh arrested two owners of a garment factory in a shoddily-constructed building that collapsed this week, killing at least 324 people, as protests spread to a second city Saturday with hundreds of people throwing stones and setting fire to vehicles.

Also Saturday, police detained for questioning two engineers who were involved in approving the design of the 8-story building. The wife of the building owner, who is on the run, was also detained in an attempt to force him to surrender.

At least 19 people were pulled out alive from under the tangled mess of concrete, bricks and steel on Saturday, more than 72 hours after the building came down on Wednesday in the worst tragedy to hit Bangladesh's massive, but poorly regulated, garment industry that supplies clothes to top Western brand names.

"There are many (survivors) still there," Subrata Sarker, a fire official, told The Associated Press, taking a break after emerging from the debris. Around him, soldiers, police and medical workers in lab coats swirled around in frenzied activity.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_BANGLADESH_BUILDING_COLLAPSE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-04-27-04-10-47