4 more bodies recovered

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Rescuers pulled out four more bodies beneath the debris of the collapsed building in Savar on Monday, six days into the building collapse.

The rescuers still continued frantic efforts to locate whether anyone is still remaining alive inside the rubble as they continue second phase of the operation using the hydraulic cranes.

They removed the heavy concrete slabs of what once was a nine-story building, starting from Sunday night.

The fresh recovery was revealed during a press briefing of the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) held at the site of Rana Plaza in Savar Monday afternoon.

Shahinul Islam, director of ISPR, informed the fresh recovery to reporters.

With the fresh number, the death toll now stands at 381, according to the ISPR briefing.

Rescuers have dropped a video camera inside the ruins through a tunnel bored by them on the wall, to spot trapped people, if there is any, the ISPR director said.

The fire that erupted in a tunnel of the sandwiched building Sunday night is yet to be extinguished as smoke was seen coming out of it, he added.

"We could not douse the fire as debris remain scattered on the floor," he said.

The total number of people rescued alive is 2437, said Shahinul.

Rana Plaza housing five garment factories, a branch of Brac Bank and a shopping mall collapsed on Wednesday.

The second phase of the operation using heavy equipment started at 11:30pm Sunday, Shahinul told reporters during another press briefing at the disaster site Monday morning.

The top priority of the operation remains the same–rescuing the last survivor trapped inside the ruins, he added.

There are sufficient manpower and machineries to carry out the second phase of the rescue mission, Shahinul further added.

Rescuers consisting of untrained volunteers, fire fighters and personnel from armed forces pulled 2,437 people out of the debris before opting for heavy machineries.

On Monday morning, five slabs weighing nearly 12 tonnes each and six slabs weighing nearly three tonnes each were removed, Brig Gen Abu Sayeed Masud of Special Work Organisation (SWO) of Army Engineering Corps, told Bangla daily Prothom Alo.

It will take at least 15 days to remove all the debris of the building, officials of SWO informed the army chief who visited the site Monday morning.

The amount of debris is around 6,500 tonnes, the SWO official said.

Rescuers were working at the rear wing of the collapsed building Monday afternoon, he added.