BANGLADESH NEWS 24 HOURS (Bangladesh), BBC NEWS (UK), AP
DHAKA – Police said Thursday that the owners of the eight-story building housing garment factories that collapsed in Bangladesh, killing at least 187, had ignored warnings not to allow their workers into the building.
Search for survivors is continuing as hundreds are still unaccounted for, with more than 1,000 reported injured. Some 2,000 people were in the Rana Plaza building in Savar, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka, when it collapsed on Wednesday morning, BBC News reports.
Building Collapse Horror: This pic from Dhaka, #Bangladesh is shocking. 160 dead, 1,000+ injured #CNN twitter.com/ErrolCNN/statu…
— Errol Barnett (@ErrolCNN) April 25, 2013
According to the Associated Press, police had ordered the Rene Plaza building to be evacuated the day before its deadly collapse, but the owners – who are now said to have gone into hiding – allegedly forced them to go to work, threatening to dock their pay if they didn’t.
Bangladesh News 24 Hours reports that a petition was filed at Bangladesh’s High Court on Thursday, seeking the arrest of owners of the building after allegations were raised about workers being forced to work despite cracks were noticed on Tuesday.
