Rescue operation at the collapsed Phoenix building in Tejgaon was officially over since 10:00am yesterday after hundreds of men and machines from nine different organisations removed up to 2,500 truckloads of debris since Saturday last. The rescuers recovered 21 bodies and rescued dozens of trapped workers from the rubbles.

Shaheed Tajuddin Road was opened to public just after midday yesterday bringing relief to the citywide heavy traffic that engulfed the city after the closure of the road.

According to officials, the building was undergoing extensive modification work at the time of its collapse. The owner of Phoenix building started changing its "use pattern" from a factory into a 500-bed hospital without any approval

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from the authorities concerned. Detectives investigating the case are yet to arrest anyone of the seven absconding accused, including its owner Din Mohammad.

The 119-hour-long rescue operation was coordinated by the 14 Independent Engineers Brigade who deployed arrays of rescue equipment and more than 700 personnel since the collapse of the multi-storey Phoenix building on February 25.

The army was joined by 120 personnel of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, Dhaka City Corporation, Bangladesh Rifles, Rapid Action Battalion (Rab), Police, Roads and Highways Department, Rajuk and the district administration. Some private construction companies also helped by sending their excavators to the site.

According to top officials, the combined cost of the five-day long non-stop rescue operation could run into several lakhs, excluding the count on man-hours. The Dhaka City Corporation alone, deploying 26 heavy machineries, roughly spent more than Tk 10 lakh on fuel. Sujat Ali Khandaker, the superintendent engineer said the district administration opened up its relief funds to provide various supports to the rescuers and to distribute Tk 2,000 each to surviving victims.

From day one hundreds of rescuers painstakingly cut through floor after floor of the collapsed building. They were often forced to use bare hands fearing that vibration from the chipping hammers

could trigger further collapse and reduce the chances of finding live people trapped inside.

According to Brigadier General Nizam Ahmed about 2,500 truckloads of concrete debris were removed from the site and dumped on an open space 500 meters from the spot. He said the operation was relatively easier than the Savar Spectrum building tragedy due to its location next to a wide road in the middle of the city, where accessibility is much better.

At 9:00am yesterday there were hardly any traces of the Phoenix building. The entire plot of about 44 kathas was swept clean and it looked rather like a grassless playground. As the army and other personnel left the area Rab and the police stood guard of the site.