Survivors found in Bangladesh factory ruins as toll hits 250

AFP/Dhaka Dozens of workers huddling together in the wreckage of a collapsed garment factory bloc in Bangladesh were found alive late yesterday, a rare success for rescuers who have pulled out 250 corpses.  In an announcement greeted by wild applause from thousands of relatives at the scene, an army spokesman initially announced that 40 survivors had been discovered together in a room, but the figure was later revised to 24.  Screams filtering through the cracks in the concrete suggested more survivors were awaiting help, but a steady stream of bodies saw the recorded death toll almost double yesterday and hundreds more remain unaccounted for.  The collapse of the building on Wednesday on the outskirts of the capital is the worst industrial accident in the country’s history and is the latest in a spate of tragedies in the “Made in Bangladesh” clothing sector.  It prompted new criticism of Western brands who were accused by activists of placing profit before safety by sourcing their products from the country despite its shocking track record of deadly disasters.  Hundreds of thousands of workers walked out of their factories in solidarity with their dead colleagues yesterday as flags flew at half mast and a national day of mourning was held.  “We’ve got 250 dead but many more are feared trapped under the ruins,” senior police officer Moshiuddowla Reza said, adding most of the deceased were from the 3,000-strong mostly female workforce in the building’s garment factories.  Safety problems and poor working conditions plague the textile industry in Bangladesh, the world’s second-biggest clothing exporter after China.  Last November a blaze at a factory making products for Walmart and other Western labels left 111 people dead, with survivors describing how fire exits were kept locked by site managers.  Only British low-cost fashion line Primark and Spanish giant Mango have acknowledged having their products made in the collapsed factory bloc, while a host of brands including Wal-Mart and France’s Carrefour are investigating.  Italian fashion line Benetton denied having a supplier in the building but a local workers’ group provided documents showing apparent orders from the company in August and September last year.  The company did not reply to repeated requests for comment.  Survivors and police said the building developed visible cracks on Tuesday evening, but factory bosses had demanded staff return to the production lines despite a police evacuation order.  One manager for the New Wave Styles company, one of the five manufacturers in the building, told how the owner had consulted an engineer but then ignored his warnings. “Those who’re involved, especially the owner who forced the workers to work there, will be punished,” Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told lawmakers. “Wherever he is, he will be found and brought to justice.”  At the scene of the disaster, relatives desperate for news descended on the scene in their thousands, clutching photographs and hoping to see their missing loved ones pulled out by the firemen and soldiers taking part in rescue efforts.   “I became so thirsty that at one stage I drank my urine,” said an ecstatic Abul Hossain, 23, as he was dragged from the ruins more than 25 hours after the disaster struck at around 09am (0300 GMT) on Wednesday.  But others were less lucky, with body after body laid out on the grounds of a nearby school for identification.  “I’ve seen all the bodies. My sister was not among them. She is also not in any of the hospitals,” said Mukta Begum, holding the photo of her younger sibling Suryaban, a garment worker.  Babul Akhter, head of the Bangladesh Garments and Industrial Workers Federation, said that the factory owners—who have gone into hiding—would likely escape justice despite the outcry.  “Garment entrepreneurs are above the law here. There is hardly any example of an owner being prosecuted for this kind of outright murder,” he said.  “The Western retailers are also complicit because they give a blind eye to the manufacturers’ shoddy practices.” Survivors described a deafening bang and tremors before the eight-floor building fell under them. “I thought there was an earthquake,” said Shirin Akhter, 22, who was starting her day at the New Wave Style workshop six floors up when the complex crumbled. Akhter was trapped for hours before breaking through a wall. She says her monthly wage was $38. Entry level wages in these factories start at 14 cents an hour, said Charles Kernaghan, with the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights.  UK clothing retailer Primark, which has 257 stores across Europe and is a unit of Associated British Foods, confirmed that one of its suppliers occupied the second floor of the building. Danish retailer PWT Group, which owns the Texman brand, said it used a factory in the building for seven years. “We check the working conditions at the factory, but we are not construction engineers. We cannot be held responsible for how they build their factories,” PWT director Ole Koch said. British clothing retailer Matalan said it used to be supplied by one of the factories at the complex but had no current production there. Canada’s Loblaw, a unit of food processing and distribution firm George Weston Ltd, said one factory made a small number of “Joe Fresh” apparel items for the company. Primark, Loblaw and PWT operate under codes of conduct aimed at ensuring products are made in good working conditions. Spain’s Mango said it had an unfulfilled sample order with Phantom Apparel, at the plaza.  About 3.6mn people work in Bangladesh’s garment industry, making it the world’s second-largest apparel exporter. The bulk of exports - 60% - go to Europe. The US takes 23% and 5% go to Canada. Following the Tazreen fire, giant US retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc said it would take steps to alleviate safety concerns, while Gap Inc announced a four-step fire-safety programme. Wal-Mart said it had not determined whether a factory in the building that collapsed was producing goods for the company. Edward Hertzman, a sourcing agent based in New York who also publishes trade magazine Sourcing Journal, said pressure from US retailers to keep a lid on costs continued to foster unsafe conditionsTragedies blamed on Western retailersReuters/LondonMajor western clothing retailers squeezing Asian suppliers and a flawed approach to ensuring even basic working standards are fuelling conditions for tragedies like the latest factory collapse in Bangladesh, NGOs said yesterday.“What we’re saying is that bargain-basement (clothing) is automatically leading towards these types of disasters,” John Hilary, executive director at British charity War on Want, said.He said western clothing retailers’ desire to undercut rivals has translated into increasing pressure on foreign suppliers to reduce costs.“If you’ve got that, then it’s absolutely clear that you’re not going to be able to have the right kind of building regulations, health and safety, fire safety. Those things will become more and more impossible as the cost price goes down.”Hilary said the push for lower costs inevitably led to factories cutting corners: “As a result of that, we see the sort of disaster that happened yesterday.”War on Want and its partner in Bangladesh, the National Garment Workers’ Federation, called on major international buyers to be held to account.“This negligence must stop. The deaths of these workers could have been avoided if multinational Corps, governments and factory owners took workers’ protection seriously,” NGWF president, Amirul Haque Amin, said in a statement.Gareth Price-Jones, Bangladesh country director of British charity Oxfam, said western companies had not done enough.“Western buyers could be doing much, much more, and they have a moral responsibility to do so,” he said. “Western buyers really need to press for decent wages and safe working conditions.”He said Bangladeshi building regulations were not robust enough for construction in an earthquake zone and were, in any case, frequently ignored.Around 4,500 Bangladeshi factories pump out clothes for many of the world’s major brands, employing 4mn workers and generating 80% of Bangladesh’s $24bn annual exports, making it the world’s No.2 apparel exporter behind China.But with wages as low as $37 a month for some workers toiling for 10-15 hours a day, and increasing publicity about unsanitary and unsafe working conditions, some retailers were getting worried about their reputation. A lot have introduced corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes, where they carry out factory audits and inspections and talk to employees about worker conditions.But War on Want says the CSR processes are often flawed.“What happens is the workers are trained in what to say, the factories present favourable books and keep back the real books,” Hilary said, noting that in countries like China there were courses to coach factories on how to pass an audit without telling the truth.The disaster came five months after Bangladesh’s worst ever factory fire, which killed 112, and another incident at a factory in January in which seven died.The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), an umbrella organisation that brings NGOs, unions and brands together to try and improve working conditions, said the latest tragedy demonstrated the chronic widespread problems in the sector that affect the most basic of workers’ rights.“These incidents all serve as yet another call to action for the Bangladesh industry, government, retailers, worker representatives and NGOs to work together, to raise workplace safety standards across the country’s garment sector,” it said.