22 April 2023 , 16:39
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Victims from a factory in Bangladesh which made cut-price and designer clothes for Western retailers are still waiting for justice a decade after it collapsed, killing 1,134.
On Monday, it is 10 years since the nine-storey Rana Plaza complex in the capital Dhaka crumbled to the ground.
The collapse of the building, which housed sweatshops making clothes for at least 29 Western retailers such as Primark and Benetton, also left 2,500 people with life-changing injuries.
Yet owner Sohel Rana, 45, charged in 2016 with murder, has still not been tried over the deaths.
He denies the charges and the case is on hold.
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Sohel owned the building and has yet to face trial over the deaths. (AFP/Getty Images)The day before one of the world’s worst industrial disasters, he was on local TV saying the building was safe, even though inspectors had found major structural cracks.
Mum Shila Begum, 32, a sixth-floor machinist, feared going to work but had to or she would lose a bonus and have her wages withheld.
Relatives of Bangladeshi workers who lost their lives in the disaster (AFP via Getty Images)She said: “The building started shaking, the floor above fell and I was hit on the head and passed out.
“It was dark when I woke, people cried for help. I was next to two dead bodies. I thought I was going to die.”
Shila was trapped for 18 hours and a pillar fell on her as she was being pulled from the rubble, crushing her uterus. She suffered back, hand and stomach injuries and cannot walk without an aid.
Penniless Shila is unable to work and is angry Rana and the factory owners have not been tried.
Bangladeshi firefighters try to control the blaze following the catastrophe (AFP via Getty Images)In 2017, Rana received a three-year jail term after it emerged illegal assets were used to fund the Plaza, which was built on a swamp.
Campaigners say a £24million-plus fund for victims has run out and the tragedy, which sparked fury about conditions, is now forgotten.
Maya Thomas-Davis, of Labour Behind the Label, said: “Brands are still profiting from a global race-to-the-bottom in factory conditions.”
Loved ones of those who died are still waiting for justice (AFP via Getty Images)Primark said it had given over £22m to support hundreds of victims and it remains committed to safe working environments.
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Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust’s Sara Hossain said it was “unconscionable” cases relating to the disaster were still pending.
Benetton was contacted for comment.