At least 7 people have been killed and 53 people injured after a cement factory building collapsed in the port town of Mongla, Shah Alam Sarder, Bangladesh, The Telegraph UK reports.
6 of the injured are reported to be in a critical condition.
Hundreds of soldiers and emergency personnel worked through the night to clear debris from the site while also searching for survivors in the rubble.
12 people were rescued as search teams worked painstakingly using two cranes as well as steel cutters for fear of triggering a fresh collapse.
6 bodies have been recovered so far, while 10 people remain unaccounted for.
More than 90 staff were on the site when the structure started to cave in on Thursday afternoon, trapping several workers under a mass of newly-mixed concrete and steel.
Speaking on the incident, the fire department director, Sheikh Mizanur Rahman said
“We’re trying to reach the (seventh) body by cutting through a maze of steel but it’s taking hours because any misstep could trigger a collapse in the debris or on the other side of the factory”
The collapsed factory reportedly belongs to Sena Kalyan Sangstha, a company run by the Bangladesh Army, while the building contractor was a firm called China National Building Material (CNBM).
