Australia tightens laws in wake of 'cracked' tower

Yahoo – AFP, February 10, 2019

Some 300 people in the 38-storey Opal Tower were evacuated on Christmas Eve
after the cracking reports (AFP Photo/SAEED KHAN)

Sydney (AFP) - Australia's most populous state said Sunday it would embark on the "biggest overhaul of building laws" in its history, months after residents were evacuated from a recently completed Sydney high-rise apartment that made "cracking noises".

There have been question marks hanging over New South Wales' building and construction industry after some 300 people in the 38-storey Opal Tower in the Sydney Olympic Park were evacuated on Christmas Eve after the cracking reports.

Some residents have yet to return to their homes, while an initial investigation found there were a number of "design and construction issues" that could have led to the damage.

The building moved "one to two millimetres" during the incident and authorities had said they found a crack on the 10th floor.

The new regulations will require that designers, engineers and architects are registered, qualified, and held responsible for their work, in contrast to the earlier building code which only held builders accountable for any lapses.

A building commissioner will be appointed to audit their work, and changes to property plans in the construction stage will not be allowed unless further approval is given.

The new rules were drawn from recommendations from an independent report commissioned last year before the cracking crisis, but are seen as an effort to restore confidence in the sector after the public outcry.

"They (the report's authors) found that there are national problems in the construction industry," NSW Minister for Better Regulation Matt Kean said in a statement.

"We're making tough new laws to ensure buildings meet Australian standards, and to guarantee that people who build and design buildings have the proper qualifications to do so."

Master Builders Association NSW's executive director Brian Seidler told The Sydney Morning Herald the changes were "very important" and a "very good set of reforms".

The 392-unit Opal Tower opened last year and is near the site of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Russian governor resigns over deadly mall blaze

Yahoo – AFP, Anna SMOLCHENKO, April 1, 2018

At least 64 people including 41 children died in the mall fire in Siberia
last weekend (AFP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Moscow (AFP) - The longtime governor of a Russian region where a huge mall inferno killed dozens of people -- most of them children -- resigned on Sunday after bitter criticism over his response to the tragedy.

Aman Tuleyev, who had been at the helm of the coal-mining region of Kemerovo since 1997, said in a video address that he could no longer remain at his post with "such a heavy burden" and that quitting was "the only right choice".

The Kremlin swiftly said that President Vladimir Putin had accepted his resignation.

Tuleyev's move is unusual as top officials in Russia rarely resign over failings in the emergency response to deadly tragedies.

But the huge fire which ravaged a shopping centre in the Siberian industrial city of Kemerovo last Sunday, killing at least 64 people including 41 children, plunged Russia into shock.

Some parents lost all their children, and the youngest victim was a two-year-old boy.

Many people who lost relatives have said they perished because of inaction by firefighters and police lacking the necessary equipment and skills, while some said a cinema door was locked, trapping children inside.

Kremlin about-face

Tuleyev, who himself lost a young relative in the blaze, came under heavy criticism for failing to visit the scene of the tragedy in the first few days or meet with angry relatives.

Putin had initially refused to sack the 73-year-old governor despite a rare protest which saw thousands of people pack a square in Kemerovo on Tuesday, the same day Putin travelled to the scene of the tragedy.

Aman Tuleyev, shown with Putin after a mine explosion in 2010, was one of 

Russia's longest-serving top governors (AFP Photo/ALEXEI NIKOLSKY)

Tuleyev apologised to the president over the rally -- where protesters also called for Putin's resignation -- calling its organisers troublemakers.

Officials have said that multiple safety rules were violated, the fire alarm system was not working and staff did not follow correct emergency procedures.

The four-storey shopping mall was redeveloped several times and previously housed a sweet factory.

Seven people have been arrested in the aftermath of the blaze, investigators said.

The ailing Tuleyev had long been expected to leave the post.

The Kemerovo region of around 2.7 million people has traditionally been considered one of Russia's most troubled areas and some have feared that Tuleyev's departure could spark a leadership crisis there.

Tuleyev, who first became governor in the era of president Boris Yeltsin in 1997, is one of Russia's longest-serving top officials.

A makeshift memorial has been set up in tribute to the victims of a deadly shopping 
mall fire in the Siberian city of Kemerovo (AFP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

He was credited with helping pacify the region which was beset by miners' strikes in the turbulent 1990s but had come to symbolise the worst excesses of authoritarianism in his later years, critics say.

'Hated by everyone'

Lev Shlosberg, a former lawmaker and rights activist, said Tuleyev "had become senile", adding that the tragedy had clearly shown that Russia turned into a "mafia" state.

"This is not an emotional or symbolic but a very concrete state of the authorities: they do not represent people and absolutely do not defend the interests of citizens because they do not depend on them in any way and do not hear them," he wrote in a blog.

"The life of an ordinary man in a mafia state costs nothing."

"Tuleyev is an example of how one climbs down from the throne after failing to leave on time: disgraced and hated by everyone, with stains of blood and someone else's tears," one commentator said on Twitter.

Opposition politician Vladimir Milov said it would take "decades" for the region to recover from Tuleyev's 21-year rule.

Thousands of people packed a square in Kemerovo to protest over the Russian 

authorities' response to the deadly mall fire (AFP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Sergei Tsivilyov, who has been Tuleyev's deputy since March, has been appointed acting governor, the Kremlin said.

Tsivilyov is a business partner of one of Putin's closest lieutenants, Gennady Timchenko, who has been under sanctions imposed on Russia for its role in the Ukraine conflict.

Tsivilyov's behaviour in the aftermath of the blaze has raised eyebrows.

Igor Vostrikov, a man who lost his wife, sister and three children aged two, five and seven years, accused the authorities of treating people "like dirt".

Tsivilyov responded by accusing him of a "PR stunt" but later went down on his knees in front of the crowd massed in Kemerovo, asking for forgiveness over the fire.

Polls to elect a new governor will be held in September.

Building site fatalities on Dutch construction projects double in two years

DutchNews, March 22, 2018

The number of job-related deaths on building sites in the Netherlands has doubled in the past two years, according to the social affairs ministry inspectorate SZW. 

In 2017, there were 20 fatalities, up from 16 in 2016, public broadcaster NOS reported on Thursday. 

The increase is attributed to the fact that there are far more subcontractors – independent contractors known as zzp’ers in the Netherlands – working on Dutch building sites in addition to foreign workers who lack knowledge of the Dutch language and unqualified workers. 

‘Previously there was always one major contractor with a safety coordinator, but nowadays there isn’t and this has led to big problems,’ the inspectorate said. 

The building sector leads all others in terms at workplace fatalities. There were 162 deaths on construction sites over the past eight years and that represents 30% of the total.

JCI Closes Higher on Monday Despite Collapse of Floor in IDX Building

Jakarta Globe, Sarah Yuniarni, January 15, 2018

The Jakarta Composite Index closed higher on Monday, bouncing back from
Friday despite the collapse of a mezzanine floor in the Indonesia Stock Exchange
building, shortly after the end of the day's first trading session. (JG Photo/Yudha Baskoro)

Jakarta. Indonesia's benchmark stock index closed higher on Monday (15/01), bouncing back from Friday despite the collapse of a mezzanine floor at the local bourse in Jakarta, shortly after the end of the day's first trading session.

The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) closed 0.19 percent higher at 6,382.

Nafan Aji, an analyst at brokerage firm Binaartha Sekuritas, said the JCI opened higher at 6,379 on Monday due to strong gains in Asian stocks, spurred by an improvement in global commodity prices.

The index reached 6,389 at around 10 a.m., but dropped during the second session.

"The country's index weakened slightly during the second trading session, likely due to negative sentiment from a deficit in Indonesia's trade balance, and the collapse of a first-floor corridor in the Indonesia Stock Exchange [IDX] building, but it bounced back and [still] closed higher than Friday," Nafan said.

Indonesia recorded a $270 million trade deficit in December, but the country still had a cumulative $11.84 billion trade surplus for 2017, Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data shows.

Foreign investors, who accounted for 37 percent of Monday's trading, bought Rp 1.96 trillion ($147.4 million) more in shares than they sold, while local investors sold Rp 1.96 trillion more than they bought.

Some indexes rose during Monday's trading, led by a 1.53 percent gain in the one that tracks mining stocks, including Vale Indonesia and Medco Energi Internasional.

The index that tracks financial stocks, including Bank Mandiri and Bank Central Asia, gained 0.67 percent.

Gainers beat decliners by 168 to 175 on Monday.

IDX Floor Collapse

At least 77 people were injured when a mezzanine floor in the second tower of the IDX building collapsed shortly after 12 p.m. on Monday.

The tower, which is also home to the offices of the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, property consultants and several local lenders, was built in 1998.

The IDX said in a statement that the building management was still investigating the cause of the incident. Police have ruled out an explosion as the cause.

The second trading session started at 1:30 p.m. as normal, despite the incident.

The collapse of a mezzanine floor of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) building 

on Monday (15/01) was not caused by a bomb. (Antara Photo/Elo)

Related Article:

Building Collapse Injures 77 at Indonesia Stock Exchange, Bomb Ruled Out
Floor Collapses at Indonesia Stock Exchange Building

Rats and mice cause ‘over half’ of unexplained factory farm fires

DutchNews, August 2, 2017

Pigs on a factory farm. Photo:
Depositphotos.com

Rodents gnawing through electricity cables are the likely reason for most unexplained factory farm fires, the Telegraaf reported on Wednesday. 

According to pest control advice centre KAD in Wageningen, factory farm owners must do more to keep ‘pyro mice’and rats away from where the animals are kept. 

Insurers should be more critical when considering insurance claims and owners who do not have a continuous contract to combat rodents or a pest control certificate to state they can do it themselves should get nothing in case of a fire caused by rodents, the paper writes. 

‘The role of rodents in infernos such as this is being underestimated. We think more than half of unexplained farm fires are down to insufficiently insulated cabling which has been gnawed at by mice or rats,’ KAD biologist Albert Weijman told the paper. 

The call for more stringent rules for  the prevention of factory farm fires comes in the wake of a devastating fire in Erichem in which 20,000 pigs died. Its cause has not been established yet. 

According to Joop de Jonge of the PvdD, fire safety at factory farms leaves much to be desired. ‘None of the factory farms has compartments, sprinklers or fire detectors, he told the Gelderlander. 

Insurance association Verbond van Verzekeraars told the Telegraaf that contracts with farmers are already stringent when it comes to the fire safety of animal holding areas.

Safety fears for thousands of tower block residents after London inferno

Yahoo – AFP, Robin MILLARD, June 22, 2017

Safety fears for thousands of tower block residents after London inferno

London (AFP) - Tower blocks housing thousands of people across England are being urgently tested to check if their cladding poses a serious fire risk following the Grenfell Tower disaster, as the government on Thursday blamed decades of neglect.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the government had arranged to test cladding on "all relevant tower blocks" following the deadly June 14 inferno, with at least three public housing blocks already found to be covered in combustible material.

English local authorities estimate that 600 high-rise buildings have cladding, and the race is on to establish which ones are covered in the same material that enclosed Grenfell Tower in west London.

The figure does not include Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, which have autonomous powers in housing.

The panels have been widely blamed for the rapid spread of the fire which consumed the 24-storey public housing block, leaving 79 people presumed dead.

They may also have produced toxic gases when burning and at least three people injured in the disaster were given an anti-cyanide antidote as a precaution.

Camden Council in London on Thursday said it will remove cladding from five tower blocks over fire concerns, raising questions about the status of the thousands currently living in cladded tower blocks.

"Many others living in tall residential buildings will have concerns about their safety after what happened at Grenfell," May said in a statement to parliament.

"We cannot and will not ask people to live in unsafe homes."

The full terror awaiting firefighters at Grenfell was laid bare on Thursday by footage filmed inside a fire engine as it neared the tower.

Seeing the entire building ablaze, the stunned firemen asked how such an inferno could happen, in the footage obtained by the BBC.

They could be heard saying: "Jesus Christ, that is not a real block with people in it? How are we going get in that?

"That's a whole tower block on fire... Oh my God. There's kids in there. How is that even possible?"

Downing Street declined to specify whether the cladding on the tower block was combustible or not, citing an ongoing investigation.

More than 100 buildings a day can be tested and May urged landlords to send samples for rapid assessment.

She said landlords were expected to provide people with alternative accommodation if buildings were found to be unsafe.

Cyanide poisoning concerns

King's College Hospital told AFP that three of its patients from the disaster were given the hydrogen cyanide poisoning antidote Cyanokit as a precaution.

Manufacturer Celotex stated that the insulation in the cladding would have released "toxic gases" if it caught fire.

The National Health Service said 10 patients were still being treated in hospital, five of whom were in a critical condition.

The cladding was installed for beautification and insulation despite warnings from local residents about fire safety as part of a major refurbishment of Grenfell Tower that was completed last year.

May said "no stone will be left unturned" in a judge-led inquiry she has ordered into the blaze.

She has apologised for the chaotic official response to the fire from local and national government.

The chief executive of the local authority, which owned the tower, quit after fierce criticism over the council's response.

Nicholas Holgate claims he was forced out from his post in charge of Kensington and Chelsea council by the British government's Local Government Secretary Sajid Javid.

However, Javid's office denied involvement, saying it was a matter entirely for the council.

The Justice4Grenfell campaign group welcomed Holgate's departure.

Immigration reassurances

May said there were now around 600 people working by the site to provide support to victims and so far there had been 500 visits to the centre.

Each family whose home was destroyed was receiving a £5,000 (5,700-euro, $6,300) downpayment.

The tower itself contained 120 flats. May said 151 homes had been destroyed and that their occupants were guaranteed new homes on the same terms, within three weeks and as close to home as possible.

"Nobody is being forced to move somewhere they don't want to go," she insisted.

May added that survivors would not be subjected to immigration checks.

"All victims, irrespective of their immigration status, will be able to access the services they need," she said.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan called for an amnesty for any illegal immigrants who survived the blaze.

#UPDATE Hundreds of tower blocks in England have similar cladding to the burnt-out #GrenfellTower https://t.co/qMtsYT5iV5 pic.twitter.com/mDexZHDyaS

— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 22, 2017

Related Articles:

Sixty towers across England found to have unsafe cladding - New
London tower blocks evacuated over fire fears - New

#UPDATE Thousands of residents from 650 London flats evacuated due to fire safety fears after #GrenfellTower blaze https://t.co/P2uZhQQlCr pic.twitter.com/9bdlb1WJ3b

— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 24, 2017

Officials Begin Demolishing Overpass Billboards in Jakarta After Bridge Collapse

Jakarta Globe, Alin Almanar, October 08, 2016

Authorities have started to demolish unauthorized billboards on overpasses
across the capital after three people were killed when a pedestrian bridge in
Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, collapsed on Sept. 24. (Antara Photo/Yulius
Satria Wijaya

Jakarta. Authorities have started to demolish unauthorized billboards on overpasses across the capital after the recent collapse of a pedestrian bridge in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, sparked safety concerns.

Three people were killed in the incident, which was triggered by heavy rains and strong winds late last month, prompting Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama to consider a ban on such billboards.

Officials from the Jakarta Transportation Office demolished two overpass billboards in Pasar Minggu and Kebayoran Lama in South Jakarta on Friday (07/10). The previous day, another one was demolished in Kalideres, West Jakarta.

"We demolished them gradually by closing parts of the roads. Vehicles can still pass under the parts we are not working on," Jakarta Transportation Office head Andri Yansyah said. "After this, we will demolish all overpass billboards across Jakarta that do not have permits and do not comply with the technical requirements."

Aside from considering a gubernatorial decree banning advertising agencies from installing billboards on overpasses, the Jakarta administration will also inspect all overpasses across the capital to determine whether they need repair.

Six more officials charged in Flint water scandal

Yahoo – AFP, July 29, 2016

The damage to the Flint's water pipes may be long-lasting, if not permanent,
causing residents to use filters to make their water drinkable (AFP Photo/
Brett Carlsen)

  

Chicago (AFP) - Authorities in the US state of Michigan filed criminal charges Friday against six current and former state officials over lead water contamination in the city of Flint, signaling that their probe is expanding.

"Many things went tragically wrong in Flint. Some failed to act," Michigan State Attorney General Bill Schuette told a news conference as he announced the new charges.

"Some intentionally altered figures, and covered up."

More than 8,000 children are believed to have consumed lead-tainted water in the hardscrabble northern city, which has become a focus of the 2016 White House race.

Until now, three state workers had been criminally charged over the health crisis, which occurred in the aftermath of government officials' cost-saving effort in 2014 to switch the city's source of drinking water.

One took a plea agreement to cooperate in the probe.

Chief investigator Andrew Arena said his team was "starting to work our way up" in the areas of state government they were investigating, and expanding the probe "into other departments."

"This at the end will be the largest criminal investigation in the history of the state of Michigan," he said.

On Friday authorities charged another six current and former state employees for covering up evidence of water contamination. They face various felony and misdemeanor counts, including conspiracy, misconduct in office and tampering with evidence.

Flint residents Gladyes Williamson (C) holds a bottle full of contaminated water,

and a clump of her hair, alongside Jessica Owens (R), holding a baby bottle full

of contaminated water (AFP Photo/Mark Wilson)

Experts say the new source of water proved more corrosive on aging pipes and caused lead contamination that exposed thousands of children to the toxin.

"In essence, these individuals concealed the truth. They were criminally wrong to do so," Schuette said.

The highest ranked official charged is Liane Shekter Smith, who was fired in February from her post as chief of Michigan's Department of Environmental Quality.

"Shekter Smith ignored reports that the (water treatment) plant was out of compliance, lied that the water plant was certified, and deliberately misled her superiors," Schuette said.

She faces a felony charge of misconduct in office and a misdemeanor charge of willful neglect of duty.

The others charged are: Nancy Peeler and Robert Scott, who are current employees in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services; Corrine Miller, a former MDHHS employee; and Patrick Cook and Adam Rosenthal, current employees of the state's Department of Environmental Quality.

Todd Flood, special counsel for the Flint probe, said he was in talks with Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's office in connection with the investigation and that talks had been "constructive."

The damage to the city's water pipes may be long-lasting, if not permanent. Residents must use filters to make their water drinkable.

Last month officials also filed a lawsuit accusing a French company and a Texas firm of negligence and fraud, for their roles in the Flint water crisis.

More than 20 killed as flyover collapses in Indian city

Yahoo – AFP, Sailendra Sil, March 31, 2016

The wreckage of a collapsed flyover in Kolkata, India, on March 31, 2016
 (AFP Photo/Dibyangshu Sarkar)

Hundreds of emergency workers in India battled Thursday night to rescue dozens of people still trapped after a flyover collapsed onto a busy street, killing at least 22 people and injuring nearly 100.

The flyover was under construction when a 100-metre (330-feet) section collapsed suddenly onto a crowded street in the eastern city of Kolkata around lunchtime, crushing pedestrians, cars and other vehicles under huge concrete slabs and metal.

"The death toll has risen to 22," Javed Ahmed Khan, disaster management minister for the state of West Bengal, told AFP.

Anil Shekhawat, a spokesman for the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), said seventeen survivers out of 92 rescued were still undergoing treatment at hospital.

Most suffered multiple fractures and were in a critical condition, Shekhawat added, saying that the death toll was expected to rise, with an unknown number of people still trapped under the wreckage.

Specialist rescue teams armed with concrete and metal cutters, drilling machines, sensors to detect life and sniffer dogs were sifting through the rubble.

India (AFP Photo)

Anurag Gupta, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Authority, told AFP hundreds of rescuers would work through the night to rescue the trapped victims.

"Four hundred men from NDRF and 300 Indian army men along with hundreds of police and local officials are at the spot," Gupta said.

Authorities sealed off the accident site to members of the public, who in the initial hours were seen trying to pull away concrete slabs with their bare hands.

Workers struggled to get cranes and other large machinery through the narrow streets of Burrabazar, one of the oldest and most congested parts of the city, where locals desperately waited for news of missing loved ones.

"Everything is finished," screamed Parbati Mondal, whose fruit-seller husband had not been seen since the accident.

An injured builder told AFP at the scene that he had been working on the structure before it collapsed and had seen bolts come out of the metal girders.

"We were cementing two iron girders for the pillars, but the girders couldn't take the weight of the cement," said 30-year-old Milan Sheikh before being taken away to hospital.

"The bolts started coming out this morning and then the flyover came crashing down."

Construction on the two-kilometre-long flyover began in 2009 and was supposed to be completed within 18 months but has suffered a series of hold-ups.

The disaster is the latest in a string of deadly construction accidents in India, where enforcement of safety rules is weak and substandard materials are often used.

'Like a bomb blast'

Many locals said they were fleeing their houses for fear that more of the damaged structure could collapse.

"We heard a massive bang sound and our house shook violently. We thought it was an earthquake," 45-year-old resident Sunita Agarwal told AFP.

"We're leaving -- who knows what will happen next."

The disaster came just days before the World T20 cricket final, which is set to draw thousands of fans to the city this Sunday.

Television footage showed one bloodied body trapped under a concrete slab, and also the hand of a person sticking out from under twisted debris.

An eyewitness at the scene described a loud bang "like a bomb blast and suddenly there was a lot of smoke and dust".

A crane was seen lifting a mangled car from under the debris and part of a crushed bus was visible protruding from the rubble, although it was unclear if it had been carrying passengers.

K.P. Rao, a representative of the Indian construction company IVRCL, which was contracted to build the giant flyover, called the disaster an "act of God".

Their offices in Kolkata were sealed by investigators and police filed an initial charge of "culpable homicide not amounting to murder" against the company.

The firm was given an 18-month deadline and a budget of nearly $25 million to complete the project in 2009, but after seven years only about 55 percent of the work has been done.

In 2014 the company wrote to the city's development authority to say it was running out of funds to complete the project.

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal of which Kolkata is the capital, told reporters those behind the disaster would "not be spared".

The accident comes as the West Bengal government is about to face state elections, with voting scheduled to start in early April and run until May.

Related Article:

Three people arrested in connection with deadly overpass accident in Kolkata

Bangladesh orders mass arrests over 2013 factory disaster

Yahoo - AFP, December 21, 2015

The Rana Plaza garment factory building collapsed in Savar, on the outskirts

of Dhaka, in April 2013 killing more than 1,100 people

A Bangladesh court Monday ordered the arrest of 24 people and seizure of their assets after they failed to turn up to face murder charges over the collapse of a garment factory that killed more than 1,100 people.

Senior judicial magistrate Mohammad Al Amin issued the warrants after his court accepted the murder charges against the 24 fugitives for the collapse in April 2013 of the Rana Plaza factory compound, one of the world's worst industrial disasters.

"The court accepted the charge sheet against 41 people who have been charged with murder over the Rana Plaza disaster," prosecutor Anwarul Kabir told AFP.

"The court issued arrest warrants against 24 of them as they have absconded. It also ordered the seizure of their property," he said, adding police have been asked to report on their arrests by January 27.

Factfile on the 2013 Rana Plaza factory collapse in
Bangladesh that killed over 1,100 garment workers. 

Kabir said the court had accepted the charges against four government factory and building inspectors despite attempts by their departments to shield them from prosecution by citing public servant immunity rules.

The case was delayed by "several months" due to the non-clearance by the various departments, Kabir said, adding that prosecutors now expect the trial to start by April next year.

Among the 41 who have been charged with murder is Sohel Rana, the owner of the nine-storey complex on the outskirts of Dhaka which collapsed on April 24, 2013, at the start of the working day.

Rana, who is in custody awaiting trial, became Bangladesh's public enemy number one after survivors recounted how they were forced to start work despite complaints about cracks developing in the walls the previous day.

At least 1,138 people are known to have died in the tragedy, the worst in the country's history. Rescue workers struggled for weeks to retrieve the bodies from the ruins but several people are still unaccounted for.

More than 2,000 people were injured, including many who lost limbs.

Seven owners of factories housed in the complex and 12 government officials responsible for safety and inspections were also charged with murder.

Bangladeshi property tycoon Sohel Rana is among

 the 41 who have been charged with murder over

 the 2013 factory collapse

Workers 'slapped'

Rana's parents, who jointly owned the building with him, and the mayor and councillor of the town of Savar where it was located, were also charged.

Those facing arrest including "associates of Rana" who "slapped and forced" the workers to join the shift, Kabir said.

In a separate case Rana and 41 others have been charged with violating building codes and with illegally extending the six-storey building, which was initially approved as a shopping mall, into a nine-storey factory complex.

The disaster highlighted appalling safety problems in Bangladesh's $30 billion garment industry and triggered global concern as protesters marched to demand action from Western retailers.

A host of such retailers had clothing made at the five factories housed at Rana Plaza, including Italy's Benetton, Spain's Mango and the British low-cost chain Primark.

The disaster prompted sweeping reforms including new safety inspections and higher wages in the industry which employs about four million workers.

Two groups of top retailers such as Walmart and H&M have since launched drives to clean up the sourcing factories. They hired engineers to review fire, building and electrical safety in thousands of garment plants.

Under the clean-up campaign, engineers have identified safety problems in each of the plants, and drawn up recommendations for upgrades as well as setting deadlines for the owners to implement remedial measures.

Landslide in southern China leaves dozens missing

Chinese state media say a number of people are missing after a landslide buried buildings in the southern city of Shenzhen. The landslide also reportedly caused an explosion in a gas pipeline.

Deutsche Welle, 20 December 2015

The landslide in Guangdong province on Sunday buried some 22 buildings and left 27 people missing in Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, Chinese state media reported.

Earlier reports by the state-run Xinhua news agency spoke of 41 people missing after the landslide, which hit the city's Liuxi Industrial Park, also causing the collapse of at least one building.

Some 700 rescuers are reported to be scouring the site for survivors

Xinhua said four people had so far been rescued from the rubble, three of whom had suffered slight injuries. It was unclear whether there had been any fatalities.

Hundreds of rescuers were at the scene looking for survivors, Xinhua said. Local authorities said most residents had been evacuated from the buildings before the landslide hit.

The official broadcaster China Central Television said a section of the major West-East natural gas pipeline also exploded.

A landslide last month in rural Zhejiang province killed 38 people after burying 27 homes.

tj/jlw (Reuters, dpa, AFP)

Huge China landslide, caused by illegal soil dumping, leaves 91 missing https://t.co/LWMjtmNNj2 pic.twitter.com/X76tnM3DvU

— Agence France-Presse (@AFP) December 21, 2015