On the 24th of April the year 2014 at approximately 9am, the tragedy of Rana Plaza was a devastating incident that shocked the world!!!
Within minutes the 8 story Garment Factory had collapsed, 1130 Workers were crushed to death as the Factories electricity cut out its workers were naive to think it had just been a case of a power cut and that the electricity would soon come back on. Minutes later vibrations caused the building to begin falling from the 8th floor to the ground. The factory had recently been assessed by engineers that claimed that the buildings top two floors had been illegally built and that the structure of the 2 extra floors couldn’t hack the buildings weight and was at risk of collapsing.
However, despite this Factory owner Mohamed Sohel told his workers to still come into work the next day and threatened workers regarding wages and pay if they didn’t show up for work as he was worried about his business losing profit. Workers had been complaining about cracks seen in the walls and just 24 hours before the collapse, 23rd April the building had been evacuated and workers were sent home by authority only to return the next day, most not making it out alive.
Workers were producing clothes for Foreign consumers and the 8 story floor was packed on every floor. Local people in the community heard a loud noise that sounded like a bomb as the building started to collapse people in the community came rushing to help rescue and save lives. People were rummaging through rubble dragging dead bodies or what remained from underneath. Trenches were made to allow people to climb underneath the building and rescue those who still had a chance of survival.