Over 100 killed as building collapses in Dhaka; rescuers pull 150 survivors from rubble

[email protected] (News Network)
April 24, 2013

Dhaka_building_collapse

Dhaka, Apr 24: More than 100 people were killed and over 600 injured Wednesday when an eight-storeyed building crumbled on the outskirts of capital Dhaka. Rescued workers complained they were forced to get back to work though the building was evacuated just a day earlier after cracks appeared.

Those trapped under the rubble screamed for help as rescuers scrambled to get them out.

The building, "Rana Plaza", collapsed around 8:45 a.m. It housed a market, several garment factories and a bank branch.

The building was found to have developed cracks Tuesday, and a day later, it went down in a huge heap of rubble, blocks of cement and bricks. At least 107 people were killed and over 600 injured in the building collapse, reported the Daily Star.

Nearly 150 people were pulled out of the rubble alive.

Sohel Rana, a local who rescued several people by breaking open a window, said that cries for help were heard from under the rubble of the building. The crash took place eight years after the collapse of Spectrum Garments in Baipail in Savar, which left 64 workers dead.

There are at least 107 bodies at Enam Medical College and Hospital in Savar where the victims were taken, chief medical officer of the hospital was quoted as saying.

Many workers, who were rescued, told the media that the owners of their garment factories forced them to return to work Wednesday morning. The workers were hesitating to rejoin work in the morning after they were evacuated on Tuesday after several cracks were detected in the building.

Fire fighters and army personnel joined police and volunteers to rescue those trapped under the debris. Families and relatives of the missing persons gathered in large numbers in front of the building. Fearing the worst, most of them were wailing.

Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir said that the "building might have collapsed due to faulty construction".

He added the government would bring the culprits to justice after probing the accident.

President-elect Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia in separate messages condoled the deaths.

Following the building collapse, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led 18-party alliance at first relaxed their hartal (strike) in Savar and eventually called off their 36-hour countrywide shutdown.

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News Network
May 11,2020

Kabul, May 11: Four back-to-back roadside bombs exploded in a northern district of Afghanistan's capital Kabul on Monday, wounding four civilians including a child, police said. Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said a clearance team was at the site of the attacks.

Militants have carried out several roadside bombings and rocket attacks in Kabul and other parts of the country in recent weeks, but Monday's four consecutive explosions appeared to be the first coordinated effort for some months.

The Taliban has not carried out any large attacks in the city since they signed a landmark withdrawal deal with the US in February, meant to pave the way for peace in the country. No group has claimed the attacks. The explosions come as authorities are trying to impose a lockdown in the capital to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country.

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Agencies
March 1,2020

Washington, Mar 1: Beginning April 1, Indians wishing to immigrate to America will now have to pay an additional $50,000 for the EB-5 or the US investor visa, a media report said.

Although, this additional tax would impact all visa categories, it will predominantly create a barrier for people investing in the EB-5 visa programme, the American Bazaar daily said in the report on Friday.

In 2019, the EB-5 investor visa programme, for the first time since the 1990's, increased the minimum investment amount to $900,000.

With this increase in minimum investment, the new 5 per cent additional tax would mean that applicants would have to pay the extra $50,000, when they move money to an escrow account in the US to fulfil their application criterion.

"The changes to the tax on remittances is a reminder to Indians to carefully plan their tax position before making the move to the US," the American Bazaar quoted Mark Davies, Global Chairman, Davies & Associates LLC, as saying.

"People seeking to emigrate who do not wish to pay this tax at source and rather account for it later may wish to move their money ahead of the new rules coming into effect.

"It is possible to pre-emptively move money into an escrow account in the US until such a time as they are ready to proceed with emigration process," he added.

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Agencies
March 29,2020

A shrimp seller at the wet market in the Chinese city of Wuhan believed to be the centre of the coronavirus pandemic, may be the first person to have tested positive for the disease, a media report said on Saturday.

The report by the London-based Metro newspaper said that 57-year-old woman, named by the Wall Street Journal as Wei Guixian, was selling shrimp at the Huanan Seafood Market when she developed what she thought was a cold last December.

Chinese digital news outlet, The Paper has said that she may be epatient zero'.

Wei was told by doctors her illness was "ruthless" and other workers at the market had come to the Wuhan Union Hospital with the same symptoms, the Metro newspaper report quoted the outlet as saying.

"Every winter, I suffer from the flu, so I thought it was the flu," the woman was quoted as saying by The Paper news outlet.

The shrimp seller added that she believed she contracted the coronavirus from the shared toilet in the market.

She said the fatal disease would have killed fewer people if the government had acted sooner.

Wuhan Municipal Health Commission has confirmed that Wei was among the first 27 people to test positive for the coronavirus.

It said she was one of 24 cases with direct links to the market, the Metro newspaper reported.

Though Wei may be "patient zero", it does not mean she is the first person to have contracted the virus, added the Metro report.

Chinese researchers have claimed that the first person diagnosed with the airborne virus had no contact with the seafood market and was identified on December 1, 2019.

Wei was later quarantined when a connection was made between the bug and the market before recovering in January.

As of Saturday, the global number of coronavirus cases stood at 104,837 with 27,862 deaths, according to the latest update by the Washington-based Johns Hopkins University.

The US has the highest number of cases at 104,837, followed by Italy 86,498 and China 81,948.

Italy has recorded the highest number of fatalities with 9,134 deaths, followed by Spain and China, at 5,138 and 3,299, respectively.

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