Saturday, 11 May 2013
A haunting image has emerged of a couple who perished in the Bangladesh factory collapse – clutching each other as they died. With rubble, dust and metal strewn around, the lifeless woman is seen doubled backwards as the man tenderly wraps his arms around her. Reams of light-blue clothing material – which would have been made in the garment factory – wrap around the wreckage as a trail of blood runs from the man’s eyes. More than 900 people are now known to have died – with around 2,500 people injured – in last month’s collapse of the factory near Bangladeshi capital Dhaka.
Rescuers have so far pulled 94 bodies from the ruins of the eight-storey Rana Plaza – where some of the clothes were made for Western retailers. The industrial catastrophe in Savar sparked mass protests, with many workers claiming they were forced to work by the owners despite huge cracks appearing in the building. Rescuers plan to wrap up their operation today before bulldozers move in to shift the rubble.
The heart-wrenching shot of the couple was captured by local photographer, Taslima Akhter, who said: “I have tried desperately, but have yet to find any clues about them. I don’t know who they are or what their relationship is with each other. I spent the entire day the building collapsed on the scene, watching as injured garment workers were being rescued from the rubble. I remember the frightened eyes of relatives; I was exhausted both mentally and physically.
Around 2 am, I found a couple embracing each other in the rubble. The lower parts of their bodies were buried under the concrete. The blood from the eyes of the man ran like a tear. When I saw the couple, I couldn’t believe it. I felt like I knew them; they felt very close to me. Every time I look back to this photo, I feel uncomfortable – it haunts me. It’s as if they are saying to me, we are not a number – not only cheap labor and cheap lives. We are human beings like you.” Bangladesh has one of the largest garment industries in the world but has faced repeated criticism over low pay and its factories’ often dangerous working conditions. A number of officials – including Mohammed Sohel Rana, the Rana Plaza’s owner – have been arrested since the factory collapse and charged with causing deaths by negligence.
