Summary Rescue workers have pulled out 108 survivors from the collapsed factory building.
LAHORE (Dunya News/Agencies) – The death toll in the Sundar Industrial Estate factory tragedy rose to 46 on Saturday as rescuers have retrieved more dead bodies, including that of factory owner, from under the rubble at the site of a collapsed factory near Lahore.
Soldiers and rescuers have pulled more than hundred survivors out of the rubble of the four-storeyed Rajput Polyester factory, which manufactured polythene shopping bags. Rescuers are cutting through steel and using cranes and heavy machinery to lift the debris.
As, rescue workers, aided by excavators and cranes, dig through the rubble, several anxious relatives of those still missing stood at the site, hoping to learn about their loved ones.
Arshad Zia, chief of the rescue operation, said that at least 400 rescue workers were involved, and that efforts had been intensified as time was running out to find more survivors.
Also Read: Sundar tragedy: Man rescued after 50 hours, family buried wrong body
He said that rescuers have only removed rubble from the top two floors. He added that more workers were believed to have been on the bottom floors at the time of the collapse.
He had not given up hope, however. "Miracles can happen at any time and that s why we are moving slowly."
It was unclear how many people were in the building when it collapsed or how many -- dead or alive -- may still be trapped.
Rescue services spokesman Jam Sajjad Hussain said earlier Thursday it was "difficult" to give a specific number, but said workers had told officials that around 200 people had been inside at the time of the collapse, including the owner.
Factory employee Mohammad Navid told AFP that up to 50 shift workers may have been sleeping in a part of the building that rescuers had not yet reached, and that children as young as 12 had been working in the factory.
Also Read: Hopes fade for survivors of Lahore factory collapse
A list of the injured from one of the three hospitals the wounded were shifted to, however, showed three 15-year-olds as the youngest patients listed.
Another employee, 18-year-old Mohammad Irfan, told AFP from his hospital bed that the workers were "mostly" aged between 14 and 25.
On Friday, a man named Shahid was rescued by the rescue teams working at the ruined factory in Sundar Industrial State after 50 hours of the incident. Shahid survived 50 hours beneath the debris of the factory and was finally rescued by the rescue teams. His relatives have already buried someone believing it to be him.
Shahid was taken to Jinnah Hospital where he gave a friend’s phone number to the rescue teams. Friend was called by the hospital staff and he recognized Shahid immediately. However, the friend told that Shahid’s parents have already received the dead body of their son and have buried him as well. The question that arose now was who had been buried by Shahid’s parents, if Shahid was still alive.
Talking to Dunya News, Shahid’s uncle told that he was really happy to learn that Shahid was still alive. He said that they had taken a distorted body mistaking it to be Shahid’s since the face resembled that of Shahid’s and had been mutilated due to injuries.
