20 killed in Bangladesh building collapse

DHAKA - The death toll from a building collapse in the Bangladesh capital rose to 20 as rescuers pulled more bodies from the rubble Wednesday, officials said.

Rescuers traced four more bodies under the collapsed building but could not retrieve them, the official said, adding that the rescue operation might continue until Thursday.

The five-storey Dhaka building collapsed late Tuesday on an adjacent three-storey tin-roofed house where more than 200 poor people lived.

Some 21 people were rescued and taken to hospitals with severe injuries, Abdus Salam, an official at the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department, told DPA.

“The building collapsed because of faulty construction,” he said.

Witnesses said many residents of the building escaped before it collapsed with a loud bang but people in the adjacent shanty were trapped.