Workers trapped in rubble of collapsed Pakistani factory make pleas for help with mobile phones
Victims make pleas in rubble of collapsed Pakistan factory which killed 18
Survivors trapped in the rubble of a collapsed Pakistani factory pleaded for help on their mobile phones yesterday even as rescuers said they feared the death toll of 18 could rise in the latest tragedy to highlight poor safety standards in south Asia.
Nearly 100 survivors have been pulled from the wreckage of the factory, which made shopping bags 20km south of the city of Lahore, but rescuers say scores of workers had been crowded into the building's basement.
"We were working on the first floor when the roof collapsed," said one of the trapped workers, Liaqat Ali, who used his mobile to talk to a television station. "Now, I can hear the rumble of heavy machines which gives me hope that I will come out alive."
Now, I can hear the rumble of heavy machines which gives me hope that I will come out alive
Rescue officials on Wednesday said 150 people were believed to have been in the building when it collapsed. But rescuers had to move slowly, government officials said, to avoid further injuries to those still trapped.
The factory may have suffered structural damage in the October 26 earthquake which killed almost 400 people across Pakistan and Afghanistan, Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif said.
"I have heard about the earthquake affecting the building, but according to labourers the owner continued to build an extension."
Injured survivors said the factory's owner, who was adding a third floor, had ignored advice from his contractor and pleas from his workers to stop construction after cracks in the walls appeared.
"Some of the pillars of the building had been weakened in the earthquake," 22-year-old factory employee Mohammad Navid said, adding that workers had informed the owner of the problems.
"The building caved in with a big bang and I fell unconscious on the ground. I heard people screaming and shouting for help."
The owner of the factory was among the dead, said a government official, Muhammed Usman.
Muhammed Younis Bhatti, an official of emergency responder Edhi Rescue Services, said 97 survivors had been pulled from the rubble.
Pakistan's construction sector is plagued by poor oversight and developers frequently flout building codes.
In September 2012, 289 people burned to death in a fire at a garment factory in the southern city of Karachi.
A judicial probe into the blaze was damning, pointing to a lack of emergency exits, poor safety training of workers, the packing in of machinery and the failure of government inspectors to spot any of these faults.
A murder case was registered against the factory owners, but it has never come to trial.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
