Bangladesh garment disaster death toll reaches 800

Dozens of bodies recovered Wednesday from a collapsed garment factory building were so decomposed they were being sent to a lab for DNA identification, police said, as the death toll from Bangladeshs worst industrial disaster topped 800.

Following protests, authorities also began disbursing salaries and other benefits to survivors of the collapse.

Also Wednesday, the European Unions delegation to Bangladesh urged the government to "act immediately" to improve working conditions. Authorities said the government has closed 18 garment factories in recent days for failing to meet work and safety standards.

Police said 803 bodies had been recovered from the wreckage of the eight-story Rana Plaza building by late afternoon and more were expected as salvage work continued two weeks after the April 24 collapse.

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There is no clear indication of how many bodies still remain trapped in the debris because the exact number of people inside the building at the time of the collapse is unknown. More than 2,500 people were rescued alive.

The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association earlier said 3,122 workers were employed at the five factories housed in the building, but it was not clear how many were there during the packed morning shift when it collapsed. Several stores and a bank were also in the building.

Maj. Gen. Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, a top military official in the area, said the operation to recover bodies from the tangle of wreckage could continue for two to three more days before they would ask the local administration to take care of the site.

Suhrawardy said they had to send 36 decomposing bodies to Dhaka Medical College Hospital to collect DNA samples because they were beyond identification. Authorities expected to send more bodies for testing in the coming days, with temperatures in the low 30s Celsius and rain pouring down.

The disaster is the worst ever in the garment sector, far surpassing fires last year that killed about 260 people in Pakistan and 112 in Bangladesh, as well as the 1911 garment disaster in New Yorks Triangle Shirtwaist factory that killed 146 workers.

Survivorsbegin receiving salaries

After hundreds of garment workers protested for compensation Tuesday, authorities started disbursing salaries and other benefits.

About 2,000 people gathered at a military athletic field in Savar on Wednesday to receive their salaries, but the process was slow because many had no identity cards, said Faruk Hossain, an inspector for the Industrial Police.

He said factory supervisors were helping to identify workers who did not have ID cards or other proof that they were employed by the five factories.

Rafiqul Islam, a BGMEA official, said the disbursement would continue in phases.

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The workers, many of whom made little more than the national minimum wage of about $38 per month, are demanding at least four months salary. They had set Tuesday as a deadline for the payment of wages and other benefits.

Local government administrator Yousuf Harun has said no salary remained unpaid except for the month of April and there was an agreement for the workers to receive an additional three months of pay.

The BGMEA said Monday that it was preparing a list of workers employed by the Rana Plaza factories and the process would take a few more days.

Bangladesh earns nearly $20 billion a year from exports of garment products, mainly to the United States and Europe.

William Hanna, head of the EU delegation in Bangladesh, told a news conference Wednesday that the EU would help Bangladesh ensure safe working conditions.

Abdul Latif Siddiqui, head of special Cabinet committee to inspect garment factories that was formed days after the Rana Plaza collapse, told a separate news conference that the government has closed 16 factories in the Dhaka area and two in Chittagong in the last few days for substandard working and safety conditions. He did not say whether the closures were temporary or permanent.

Officials say the owner of Rana Plaza illegally added three floors and allowed the garment factories to install heavy machines and generators, even though the structure was not designed to support such equipment.

Strike over anti-blasphemy law

Meanwhile, thousands of security officers patrolled Bangladeshs capital on Wednesday to prevent violence during a general strike called by 18 opposition parties. Dozens of homemade bombs exploded around the city, but no injuries were reported.

Schools and shops were closed and traffic was light, with many vehicles off the streets.

The opposition called the strike to demand changes in the electoral law and to protest the deaths of 29 people, including many Islamic hardliners, during street demonstrations on Monday calling for new anti-blasphemy laws.

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But many Bangladeshis see the protests as continuing gamesmanship between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her archrival, former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, ahead of elections next year.

Rioting has swept Bangladesh since late February, when a war crimes tribunal convicted Delwar Hossain Sayedee, a leader of the small opposition party Jamaat-e-Islami, of committing atrocities during Bangladeshs 1971 war for independence against Pakistan.

Clashes between police and Sayedees supporters killed more than 70 people. War crimes trials of other opposition leaders are pending.