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Rescuers give up hope for the trapped

25 more bodies pulled out

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Rescuers all but gave up hopes to get out alive some 200 people still trapped in debris of the nine-storey building five days into its collapse at Savar, as official death toll rose to 54 with 25 more bodies pulled out in the last two days until 7:45pm yesterday.
"It'll be a miracle if we find any survivor," said Brigadier General Nizam Ahmed, who is co-ordinating the rescue operation.
The bodies retrieved yesterday were so badly decomposed, with some of them beyond all recognition, that the distraught relatives of
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the still trapped victims were gripped with the anxiety whether they would be able to identify their beloved ones.
Three badly decomposed bodies were sent to Savar Police Station yesterday as no-one could identify them.
"We'll keep these corpses for eight to 10 hours and, if by this time no-one claims them, they would be handed over to Anjuman-e-Mafidul Islam for burial," said a sub-inspector of Savar Police Station.
Since Thursday night, relatives were seen identifying their beloved ones by the clothes on their bodies with which they had left for work on the ill-fated day or by identification cards they kept with them when at work. Relatives identified a few of the bodies by the rings they wore on fingers and the photographs they incidentally kept in their pockets or wallets.
"I could identify the body of my brother Abdul Gani Mian by the brown colour T-shirt in which he had left for work," said Gani's brotherAbu Bakar.
All the corpses retrieved yesterday and day before were pulled out from the third floor, where most of the victims were working the night shift during the deadliest building collapse in the country's history.
Rescuers, covering their noses with cloths, retrieved the corpses after cranes removed concrete slabs on the fourth floor at the eastern part of the collapse structure.
The stench of the rotting corpses filled the air of Palashbari, the site of the collapsed building, forcing rescuers, volunteers, relatives and locals to cover their noses with cloths and palms.
The rescuers had to splash Phenyl on the bodies surrounded by swarms of flies.
Though factory workers are saying that some 300 people are still trapped in the debris, an information board in the control room of army on the site puts the number at 110.
Brigadier Nizam said they will
continue their effort to pull alive if any survivor is there. "We'll also work in a way that will not damage any corpse."
According to the rescuers from army and Fire Service and Civil Defence, it will take at best a week to completely remove the rubble.
According to the army control room, the rescuers have removed 20 percent debris in the middle, 35 percent in the northern side and 55 percentin the southern part.
Eighty-five workers were either rescued alive or successfully dodged death. The last one to emerge alive out of the rubble was 36 hours after the Spectrum Sweater Industries Ltd plant had crumbled early Monday.
REPORT YET TO COME
ON ENCROACHMENT
A committee assigned to inquire if the owner of the collapsed sweater factory building had encroached into the nearby canal failed to submit its report yesterday.
The committee formed on April 12 headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner (Land Acquisition) M Towhidur Rahman was scheduled to submit the report to the deputy commissioner (DC) of Dhaka yesterday, butit prayed for three more days for the submission.
"We've done all the primary works including collecting the land documents of this area, but as the debris of the collapsed building occupy a big portion of it, it's not possible now to measure the canal," Rahman told The Daily Star yesterday.
According to the map, the width of the canal near the collapsed building is 50 to 60 feet, but now it seems much less, DC of Dhaka Abdul Bari observed.
"We think the collapsed building had encroached into a portion of the canal. But we shall become confirm about it after the committee submits the report," the DC said.