At Least 70 Dead in Bangladesh Building Collapse

An eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed near Bangladesh's capital this morning, killing at least 70 people and trapping many more in the rubble. Tens of thousands of people gathered at the site, some of them weeping survivors, some searching for family members. Officials say 600 people have been rescued from the building—which pancaked onto itself and now stands only about two stories tall—but the death toll is expected to rise.

"We had sent two people inside the building and we could rescue at least 20 people alive," a supervisor at one of the garment factories says. "They also told us that at least 100 to 150 people are injured and about 50 dead people are still trapped inside this floor." The collapse stirred memories of a fatal fire at a garment factory last fall that killed 112 people and raised an outcry about safety in the nation's garment industry. (More Bangladesh stories.)