By Emran Hossain
WASHINGTON — Relatives of workers still missing in the collapsed Bangladesh factory building say the true number of dead is far greater than the official toll of nearly 400. On an average day, roughly 5,500 garment workers toiled in the building, according to local journalists.
So far, 2,437 survivors have been pulled from the wreckage, possibly leaving thousands dead or otherwise unaccounted for in the April 24 collapse.
On Tuesday, about 700 people stood in line before a police camp set up on the playground of a local school in hopes of learning the whereabouts of their loved ones, Selim Ahmed, a local journalist, told The Huffington Post from Savar. Roughly 300 more waited around the site of the collapse, holding photographs of their missing family members, he said.
Rescuers pulled 12 bodies from the rubble Tuesday, the seventh day of their work, with reports of missing garment workers surpassing 1,300, according to a list prepared by police. In a frantic effort to force the government to reveal the disaster’s full toll, relatives protested near the scene of the collapse. Police clubbed some with batons. About 100 others held a sit-in protest in front of the National Press Club, demanding bodies of their missing family members.
