Bangladesh building collapse: factories supplied shops in west

At least 119 dead at plant where staff were 'told to return to work' despite crack in wall

The Guardian, Saad Hammadi in Dhaka, Jason Burke and Rebecca Smithers, Wednesday 24 April 2013

Link to video: Dhaka building collapse kills dozens in Bangladesh

Hundreds of garment workers employed in factories that supplied high-street shops in the west, including Primark, the high street discount clothing store, , are feared dead after an eight-storey building collapsed on the outskirts of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, on Wednesday.

Though the confirmed death toll was put at 119 on Wednesday evening, officials in the poverty-stricken south Asian country said it was certain to rise substantially, taking the final count into the hundreds. Most of the dead are women.

One rescue worker said about 2,000 people were working on the upper floors of the factory, the Rana Plaza in the suburb of Savar, when the collapse occurred at about 9am, just after work had started for the day. He added that around 1,000 had been pulled from the rubble. Other estimates for the number of workers in the building as a whole were as high as 5,000.

Bangladesh's booming garment industry is one of the country's biggest employers and foreign exchange earners but has been plagued by fires, building collapses and other accidents for many years, despite a drive to improve safety standards. In November 2012, 112 workers died in a blaze at a factory in a nearby suburb, putting a spotlight on global retailers that source clothes from Bangladesh.

Survivors of Wednesday's collapse said there was no warning. "I was at work on the third floor, and then suddenly I heard a deafening sound, but couldn't understand what was happening. I ran and was hit by something on my head," said factory worker Zohra Begum.

Rescuers gather after the eight-storey building, housing several firms making
clothes, collapsed in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photograph: AM Ahad/AP

Volunteers and relatives of buried victims were using their hands and rudimentary tools to shift mountains of rubble last night as teams of firefighters and soldiers attempted to reach survivors. Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister of Bangladesh, declared Thursday a day of mourning.

Among the businesses in the building were Phantom Apparels, New Wave Style, New Wave Bottoms and New Wave Brothers. The last three firms are all part of the same New Wave group which on its website named 27 main buyers, including firms from Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Canada and the US .

Primark, owned by Associated British Foods, said it was "shocked and saddened", as it confirmed it was currently being supplied by New Wave. The retailer has a total of 257 stores worldwide and in the UK has become symbolic of cheap, "throwaway" fashion which is sold and worn in high volume. It has opened 15 new stores in the past six months, including six in Spain, four in the UK, two in Germany, two in Austria and one in the Netherlands. It is also set to make its first foray into France by the end of the year.

A spokesman said Primark "has been engaged for several years with NGOs and other retailers to review the Bangladeshi industry's approach to factory standards. Primark will push for this review to also include building integrity".

Primark's ethical trade team was urgently working "to collect information, assess which communities the workers come from, and to provide support where possible", the spokesman added.

This week Primark revealed a 24% jump in sales.

At least one factory in the collapsed building has previously supplied the UK discount fashion chain Matalan.

A spokeswoman for Matalan, which has 212 stores in the UK selling fashion for men, women and children, and homeware, said: "We can confirm that New Wave has been a supplier to Matalan, although we don't have any current production with them. We are deeply saddened by the news and we have been trying to get in touch with our contacts since we heard to check if we are able to assist them."

Dilara Begum, a garment worker who survived the accident, said workers had been ordered to leave after a crack appeared in the wall of the building on Tuesday, but on Wednesday morning supervisors asked them to return to work, saying the building had been inspected and declared safe. "We didn't want to go in but the supervisors threatened to dock pay if we didn't return to work," said Begum, who worked at the Phantom factory, on the fourth floor of the building.

"The whole world seemed to shake and then all was dark." She said she had been pulled from the rubble by local people.

Mohammad Asaduzzaman, in charge of the area's police station, said factory owners appeared to have ignored a warning not to allow their workers into the building after the crack was detected. There were five garment factories – employing mostly women – in the building. They included Ether Tex, whose chairman told Reuters he was unaware of any warnings not to open the workshops.

November's factory fire raised questions about how much control western brands have over their supply chains for clothes sourced from Bangladesh. Wages as low as $38.50 a month have helped propel the country to the second largest apparel exporter in the world.

Buildings in the crowded city of Dhaka are sometimes erected without permission and many do not comply with construction regulations.

Savar is a relatively new manufacturing zone and was once swampland.

Laia Blanch, international programmes officer with the charity War on Want, which campaigns for better working conditions for overseas workers in the garment and other industries, said: "It is dreadful that … governments continue to allow garment workers to die or suffer terrible, disabling injuries in unsafe factories making clothes for western nations' shoppers. How many more lives must be lost or crushed before ministers and companies act to stop these scandalous human tragedies?"

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