Bangladesh Disaster: Mass Funeral For Victims

Dozens of Bangladeshi clothing factory workers crushed to death when an eight-storey building collapsed have been buried in a mass funeral.

The remains of some of the 410 who were killed in the Dhaka tragedy were too badly battered or decomposed to be identified.

Hundreds attended the traditional Muslim funeral, while others looked on from the roofs of nearby buildings as the bodies were brought to the graveyard on the back of trucks.

Some 34 bodies were unloaded and placed in the graves but it is only the start of the macabre process of burying the unidentified dead.

Workers at the cemetery have dug several long rows of graves as authorities expect to bury scores more in the coming days.

The death toll has passed 400 in the wake of a desperate rescue effort at the site of the building, which housed five clothing factories including one which made garments for Primark.

Workers have dug several long rows of graves to bury the dead

There were about 3,000 people inside the complex, which was built on a swamp. About 2,500 people have been rescued, but many remain unaccounted for.

The disaster has shone a spotlight on the unsafe practices and cheap labour that characterise the Bangladeshi clothing industry.

The European Union threatens to end beneficial trade agreements with the country unless it improves safety standards.

Bangladesh has a $19bn (£12) a year clothing industry with 60% of the garments manufactured going to Europe.

In a statement, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said: "The European Union calls upon the Bangladeshi authorities to act immediately to ensure that factories across the country comply with international labour standards ... "

At the Vatican, Pope Francis said he was shocked by a headline about the building collapse that said some of the workers were living on 38 euros a month.

The collapse is thought to have generated 600 tons of rubble

"This was the payment of these people who have died ... and this is called 'slave labour,'" he said. Vatican Radio said the Pope made the remarks during a private Mass at the Vatican.

One of the mourners at the funeral, Rasel Islam, 32, said: "I would not have to take part in this if the government acted more responsibly."

The owner of the building Mohammed Sohel Rana, 38, had permission to build five storeys but added three more illegally.

He is expected to be charged with negligence, illegal construction and forcing workers to join work, which is punishable by a maximum of seven years in jail.

When huge cracks appeared in the building a day before its collapse on April 24, police ordered an evacuation, but Rana, a small-time political operative with the ruling Awami League party, told tenants it was safe.

Police have used tear gas on protesters

The next day, a bank and some shops refused to open but factory managers told their workers to go back in. Hours later the building came down in a heap of concrete.

Rescuers estimate the building turned into 600 tons of rubble, of which 350 tons have been removed.

Zillur Rahman Chowdhury, a Dhaka district administrator, said so far 149 people have been listed missing.

However, a police official, Aminur Rahman, said police have recorded up to 1,300 names as missing - although many may be duplicates.

The collapse has sparked a number of protests over the pay and conditions of clothing factory workers, some of which police have dispersed using tear gas and rubber bullets.

Mongidul Islam Rana, 18, who works in a different garment factory said: "I want the death penalty for the owner of the building.

"We want regular salaries, raises and absolutely we want better safety in our factories."

"I think it is a wake-up call for the nation, a wake-up call for the industry and for the trade unions," said Shirin Akter, founding president of Karmojibi Nari, a Dhaka-based group that lobbies for the rights of women in the workplace.

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