The death toll from a building collapse in Bangladesh has risen to 160 and could climb higher, police said on Thursday, with people trapped under the rubble of a complex that housed garment factories supplying retailers in Europe and North America, Reuters reported.
The collapse, the third catastrophic incident at Bangladeshi factories in five months that have killed more than 200 people, could taint Bangladesh's reputation as a source of low-cost products and services and call attention to Western retailers and other companies that obtain products from the country.
Frantic rescue workers were digging through the rubble of the eight-storey Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (20 miles) outside the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, which collapsed on Wednesday. More than 1,000 people were injured.
"The death toll could go up as many are still trapped under the rubble," Dhaka's district police chief, Habibur Rahman, told Reuters on Thursday.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Mohammad Atiqul Islam said there were 3,122 workers in the factories on Wednesday. He said there had been indications from Savar officials that cracks had been found in the building the day before.
