290 dead as high street fashion chains told to put lives before profits after Bangladeshi factory collapse...

Pressure is mounting on high street retailers and leading brands to put lives ahead of profits and safeguard Bangladeshi factory workers as the death toll from the collapse of a building housing clothing manufacturers passed 290.

The factories supplied Britain's Primark and Matalan, as well as Spain's Mango, whilst C&A said it had previous links to one of the contractors.

Tonight rescuers located 40 survivors stranded in the rubble at Savar, near Dhaka, as staff described how they were ordered to continue production despite raising concerns over huge cracks in the eight-storey structure.

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The cracks in the Rana Plaza building were discovered on Tuesday and were reported on the local television news. Staff from a bank that is housed in the same building were evacuated. However, bosses at the five clothing companies told their 3,000 employees to report for duty as normal. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association claimed it had asked the factories to suspend work starting on Wednesday morning, hours before the collapse.

"After we got the crack reports, we asked them to suspend work until further examination, but they did not pay heed," said Atiqul Islam, the group's president. It was reported that some of the floors on the building had been illegally built. Full story...

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