LAHORE : The death toll in the collapse of a bag-manufacturing factory here in Pakistan’s cultural capital today rose to 45 as the rescuers pulled out four more bodies from the rubble of the building.
The four-storey structure of polythene bag making factory collapsed on Wednesday evening in Lahore and dozens of workers of civilian and army have been busy to clear the debris.
Rescuers pulled four more bodies from the rubble of Rajpoot Polyester polythene bag factory which collapsed in the Sundar Industrial Estate area Sunder Estate, with the death toll in the disaster rising to 45, the Dawn reported.
Soldiers and rescuers were carefully cutting through steel and using cranes to lift the debris of the building in a bid to find people still alive, with survivors saying that many of the workers had been children.
The body of the factory owner has also been recovered.
Rescue sources said that of the 167 people trapped in the building, 109 had been rescued. Most of them had minor injuries.
As the case unfolded it also emerged that some labourers of the factory had held a protest three days before the tragic collapse, complaining of cracks in its structure they noticed following the October 26 earthquake, the paper reported.
Yesterday rescuers pulled out alive a 18-year-old man buried under the crumbled factory building for over 50 hours.
It is believed that over two dozen people are under the debris and hopes were fading for anyone left alive. It was not clear what caused the collapse but the several buildings have been badly impacted by the 7.5 magnitude quake. (PTI)
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