(Vatican Radio) Almost a week after a clothing factory building collapsed in Bangladesh,
at least 385 people are known to have died -- and perhaps hundreds more remain missing.
But the rescue effort is now being called off, and the building owner has appeared
before a court. Rescuers climbing over the rubble are now giving way to heavy equipment
to clear the concrete, calling off the search for survivors.
On Monday, the
building's owner appeared in court. Authorities said they caught him trying to flee
Bangladesh.
This was the third such industrial disaster for Bangladesh in five months:
in November, a fire at a similar clothing factory killed 112 people. The latest incident
has sparked protests, by some of the nation's 3.6 million clothing-industry labourers,
many of whom work for wages as low as a dollar a day in factories that they say are
hazardous.
On Monday, many factories remained closed as supervisors tried to
defuse the tension. The United Nations labour agency, the International Labour Organisation,
called for "action now" to prevent future tragedy. It said it would send a mission
to Bangladesh. Also. Two western cut-price clothing chains -- in Britain and Canada
-- said they would compensate the victims' families.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh's
home affairs minister has defended his country's rejection of help finding victims
offered by foreign nations, saying Bangladesh's emergency services had most of
the skill and equipment needed. Muhiuddin Alamgir was speaking to Britain's BBC
broadcaster.