Bangladesh Disaster: Female Survivor Found 17 Days Later

17 days after the Bangladesh tragedy that saw the death toll rise over 1,000 people, police and military officials said they have rescued a woman from the rubble of the garment factory building.

Reshma Begum, a seamstress who was working on the third floor of the factory,cried out for help as the rescuers continued to search the rubble for survivors days after the collapse.

Army engineers pulled her from the basement of the building after a workman helping to clear the wreckage reported hearing her faint cries for help from beneath the ruins.

"I heard the sound and rushed towards the spot. I knelt down and heard a faint voice. Sir, please help, she cried," Abdur Razzaq, an army sergeant told Guardian.

He said that Begum has been hitting the concrete with the pipe to alert approaching rescue workers and he heard the sound after the bulldozers lifted loose rubble that had been covering the spot.

He added that she had stayed alive on biscuits in the rucksacks of dead colleagues and drinking rainwater.

There were loud cheers from hundreds of onlookers as she was removed and taken to a military hospital.

"It is incredible that someone could have survived in the wreckage 408 hours after the building came down. Her will to live is amazing. We've given her oxygen and she has been rushed to hospital," Lieutenant Shah Jamal told reorters.

So far, more than 2,500 people have been rescued in the aftermath of the collapse, with about a thousand of them suffering very serious injuries as some of the survivors had to be rescued by severing their limbs trapped under the rubble.

About nine people have been arrested in connection with the tragedy, while Primark and Canadian-owned Loblaw have said that they will compensate victims of the disaster,  the worst disaster that has ever plagued the country.

Only in November, 114 people were killed in  a garment factory fire, while there have been 8 deaths earlier this week from a similar garment factory fire.

Three Missing US Women Found Alive After a Decade

The Door That Was Knocked Down to Facilitate Their Escape

Ohio police has found three women who went missing in separate incidents for a decade alive in a house in Cleveland.

According to reports, Amanda Berry disappeared in 2003 at the age of 16, Gina DeJesus disappeared the following year at the age of 14, and Michelle Knight was the first to go missing a year before Amanda at the age of 20.

There was also report of a child, about six years of age, found with the women, but its identity and connection with the people of the house have been kept confidential.

Amanda Berry

According to Cleveland Police, Charles Ramsey, a neighbour, was startled by screams coming from the house close by. He was rushed to the building where he found a girl struggling to get outside.

Ramsey suggested the woman open the door and exit, but she told him it was locked.

“We had to kick open the bottom. Luckily on that door it was aluminum, it was cheap. She climbed out with her daughter,” he said.  After which Amanda, the woman, used his cell phone to call the authorities.

In the recorded phone call, Amanda tells the 911 emergency operator, “Help me! I’m Amanda Berry. I’ve been kidnapped and I’ve been missing for 10 years and I’m here. I’m free now.” She gave the operator the name of her alleged kidnapper, adding that he was “out of the house.”

The police said that the women have been identified, and taken to the hospital, where the doctors have given them each a clean bill of health.

In a meeting with reporters, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson said, “I am thankful that Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight have been found alive. We have many unanswered questions regarding this case, and the investigation will be ongoing.”

He added, “Again, I am thankful that these three young ladies are found, and alive.”

The families of the women have had a mixture of shock and delight at the news of their rescue.

Sylvia Colon, a relative of Gina DeJesus, said the family had never given up hope, holding vigils every year and keeping memorials outside the house.

“It’s been a whirlwind kind of day. It’s surreal. We were living every day in the hope she would come home – and she did”, she told BBC.

Gina DeJesus

Gina DeJesus disappeared on April 2, 2004, while walking home from school. According to the federal authorities, she was last sighted at a payphone booth in the afternoon that day.

Amanda Berry, who worked at a fast food restaurant just a few blocks from her home, went missing on April 21, 2003, after leaving work in the evening. Her mother, Louwana, died three years after Amanda’s disappearance.

Michelle Knight went missing on August 23, 2002. She was last seen at a cousin’s house, according to the reports from Cleveland Plain Dealer.

The Police have arrested three brothers in connection to the disappearances after the three victims were 

found in a house, just a few kilometers from where they disappeared.

One of the brothers, Ariel Castro, 52, was a bus driver for Cleveland public schools, which the Cleveland school district has confirmed, with no specifics.

His Uncle, Caesar Castro, who has known Ariel to be “a good guy”, was shocked to know that his nephew held captive three women in a house which is on the same street where his grocery store stands.

It was ironical that Ariel’s son, Anthony, had written an article about the increasing concern for safety in the neighbourhood, while reflecting the disappearance of Gina DeJesus for his local newspaper in 2004.