Savar, Apr 29: The death toll in the worst building collapse in the history of Bangladesh today rose to nearly 400, even as the fugitive owner of the 8-storey structure was arrested dramatically while attempting to flee to India.
Sohel Rana was arrested by the country's elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) from Benapole, one of the 14 land ports with India, just as he was about to cross into West Bengal, making this afternoon's arrest the fifth in the case.
"RAB arrested Sohel Rana from Benapole frontiers as he tried to flee the country," state minister for local government Jahangir Kabir Nanak told reporters.
Rana was later brought from Benapole in Jessore district to the RAB headquarters in Dhaka in a helicopter and was presented before the media.
"The Prime Minister had promised that those responsible will be brought to justice. She has kept her promise," Nanak said.
Those who have been arrested will be prosecuted and those who are yet to be arrested will be caught soon, junior Home Minister Shamsul Haque Tuku said.
The structure, that housed five garment factories, a bank branch and around three hundred shops employing thousands of workers, collapsed on April 24 leaving at least 397 people dead, a day after authorities issued a warning regarding cracks in the building.
According to officials, Rana erected the building defying safety rules and proper clearance.
Meanwhile, tonight rescuers launched the second phase of the rescue campaign as they had lost hope of finding any more survivors.
"We are now launching the second phase (of the rescue campaign," commander of the rescue operation Major General Chowdhury Hassan Sarwardy told reporters here.
Under the first phase strategy, rescuers crawled inside the rubble using small concrete and rod cutters fearing that use of heavy machines could shake the concrete ruins endangering the survivors further.
But they went for the mechanical methods after the rescue bid to save the last detected survivor, a young woman, failed because of a fire, sparked from a rod cutting saw.
