Bangladesh building collapse victims mourned as retailers back factory safety plan

Thousands of mourners gather at the wreckage of a Bangladeshi garment factory building to offer prayers for the 1,127 people who died in the worst tragedy in the history of the global garment industry.

Family members of missing garment workers offer prayers in front of the rubble of a nine-storey building collapse in Savar, on the outskirts of Dhaka.

DHAKA // Thousands of mourners gathered yesterday at the wreckage of a Bangladeshi garment factory building to offer prayers for the 1,127 people who died in the structure's collapse last month, the worst tragedy in the history of the global garment industry.

The Islamic prayer service was held a day after the army ended - after nearly three weeks - the painstaking search for bodies among the rubble and turned control of the site over to the civilian government.

Recovery workers had a surprise boost on Friday when they pulled a 19-year-old seamstress alive from the wreckage.

But mostly their work entailed removing corpses that were so badly decomposed from the heat they could only be identified if their mobile phones or work IDs were found with them. The last body was found on Sunday night.

Yesterday's mourners raised their cupped hands in prayer and asked for the salvation of those who lost their lives when the Rana Plaza building came crashing down on April 24. They also prayed for the injured still in the hospital.

Maj Gen Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy, the military commander who had been supervising the work at the site, thanked all those involved in the recovery effort.

He said the army had prepared a list of 1,000 survivors of the collapse that it would hand to the government with the recommendation that they be provided jobs on a priority basis.

The Rana Plaza tragedy came months after a fire at another garment factory in Bangladesh killed 112 workers.

With global pressure mounting on Bangladesh and the international brands it manufactures garments for, several of the biggest western retailers embraced a plan on Monday that would require them to pay for factory improvements here.

Swedish retailing giant H&M, the biggest purchaser of garments from Bangladesh, British companies Primark and Tesco, C&A of the Netherlands, and Spain's Inditex, owner of the Zara chain, said they would sign a contract that requires them to conduct independent safety inspections of factories and cover the costs of repairs.

The pact also calls for them to pay up to US$500,000 (Dh1.8million) a year towards the effort and to stop doing business with any factory that refuses to make safety improvements.

Two other companies agreed to sign last year: PVH, which makes clothes under the Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Izod labels, and German retailer Tchibo.

Other big companies that have garments made in the country are United States retail giants Wal-Mart Stores, the second-largest producer of clothing in Bangladesh, and Gap.

Gap, which had been close to signing the agreement last year, said on Monday that the pact is "within reach", but the company is concerned about the possible legal liability involved.

"This agreement is exactly what is needed to finally bring an end to the epidemic of fire and building disasters that have taken so many lives in the garment industry in Bangladesh," Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, one of the organisations pushing for the agreement.