A week after a factory building in Bangladesh collapsed, killing more than 400 garment workers, loved ones are still working to pull bodies from the wreckage.
Relatives of missing workers maintain that the official number of citizens pronounced dead is way off. They say 400 should be closer to the thousands, for nearly 5,500 occupied the building on any given day.
Roughly 2,437 survivors have been saved from the rubble in Savar, the northwestern city where the factory was located, reports the Huffington Post. This leaves a few thousand bodies unaccounted for.
"Relatives grew angrier on Tuesday, the second day of rescuers using heavy machinery, as very few bodies were pulled out," bdnews24.com journalist Ashik Hossain said. "Their suspicion that the government may conceal bodies has grown."
Hossain also noted that family members have reason to believe this. "There were reports of many people not getting the bodies of their loved ones after previous tragedies," he said.
Outside spectators question the safety of the factory, saying the building was not up to safety snuff, and participated in "slave labor."
According to CNN, Pope Francis spoke at a Wednesday Mass in which he condemned the exploitation of the workers.
"Not paying a just (wage), not providing work, focusing exclusively on the balance books, on financial statements, only looking at making personal profit. That goes against God!" he said on the Vatican Radio website.
