Woman pulled alive from rubble in Bangladesh 17 days after Dhaka factory collapse

Army officials ordered workers to stop clearing the site today so they could use handsaws to cut a woman who could be seen waving out of the rubble.

Crowds, who had earlier been engaged in the grim job or removing decomposing bodies from the sit, cheered as she was freed before being rushed to a military hospital.

Soldiers at the site said her name was Reshma and described her as being in remarkably good shape despite her ordeal.

Abdur Razzak, a warrant officer with the military’s engineering department who spotted her in the wreckage, said she was OK and could even walk.

Workers at the site began tearing through the nearby wreckage looking for other survivors.

The crowd had earlier raised their hands together to pray to Allah for the woman to be freed alive. A man on a loudspeaker led the supplicants: “Allah, you are the greatest, you can do anything. Please allow us all to rescue the survivor just found.

“We seek apology for our sins. Please pardon us, pardon the person found alive,” he said.

Workers began searching through the rubble on 24 April, and more than 2,500 people were rescued in the immediate aftermath. However, the death toll has steadily rose as hopes faded of finding any more people alive, with authorities confirming today that 1,038 people have so far been killed.

The disaster has raised alarm about the often deadly working conditions in Bangladesh’s $20 billion garment industry, which provides clothing for major retailers around the globe.

source: http://www.independent.co.uk